Dumbledore's Army and the Devil's Son
by Natural-Territory
Summary: This is a third generation story in which a man named Jolon Kiernan has taken over the ministry. Things are bad - really bad. Kiernan's purpose is unclear, no one knows why he's doing any of this. Three girls get an idea - reform the DA.
1. 1: The DA Reborn

**THIS STORY IS BEING EDITED AND IMPROVED.**

**All right, so this takes place about 10 years or so after the second gen graduated from Hogwarts. This follows the books - obviously- but assumes that almost everything written in the Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness took place (DAYD is an amazing story written by Thanfiction...it is not nessassary to have read it, but it helps).**

**In my story, Voldemort is gone, but something very bad is happening: the Ministry, led by a man named Jolon Kiernan, are becoming...well, evil. It's like the Death Eaters are ruling again, but not quite a severe, pretty much.**

**Please give it a chance...i think it is very good, and i have half of it already written, all i need is a review and it's updated :)**

**Okay, i'll shut up now.**

**Enjoy!**

**(By the way, i don't own anything...litterally. But i use a Marauders Map as a blanket!;)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 1**

"…We are also adding a place for younger students who are proven to be of magical blood. All children from age 5 and up will be admitted, and we will have specialized classes for them. The dormitories will, of course, be expanded, but the biggest change we are instigating this year is the removal of the sixth and seventh years from the main building of Hogwarts."

There were gasps through the audience at this, and Zowii and I exchanged grim looks.

Jolon Kiernan smiled, his voice ringing through the otherwise silent room. "We feel that they will be able to concentrate more away from the rest of the school, and therefore able to study for their exams and such much easier."

"Excuse me," said a man in the front of the audience, raising his hand, "I just want to make sure I'm clear on this: you're taking the younger kids to brain wash them easier, and taking the older kids away because they're too much of a threat. Right?"

There were several gasps at the boldness of this man, and even more sneers and jeers from people who were what the new administration called "loyal", but the new headmaster of Hogwarts simply smiled.

"Thank you sir, you will be a perfect example of how discipline of children at Hogwarts will now work, and how we take care of those who speak out against the ministry." He smiled widely, and both of us realized what was about to happen. We both reached into the seats in front of us where two children sat with their parents, and clasped our hands over their eyes and ears.

"Jahnette?" the man said silkily, and an older woman with short white-blond hair who stood at his right smiled.

"Crucio," she said, almost sweetly, and the man – who appeared to have expected this – fell to the floor twitching. I gave him credit for not making a sound, and Zowii and I released the two children. Their mother and father, who had been trying to yank our hands off seconds ago, gave us thankful looks.

I knew the man, of course. He was like an uncle to me. His name was Neville Longbottom.

The faces in the audience were a mixture of appalled, terrified, and angry, but on the other side – the pro-ministry side – people had the resigned look of a people watching a person who was very badly behaved receive a punishment. Resigned but pleased. Some looked smug, yet others were downright grinning.

_What had the world come too? _I thought, shaking my head.

_That's for sure. _Zowii agreed.

"Of course we wouldn't dream of using that particular spell on the children for anything other than the most severe infractions," said Jahnette Crippin, in a voice that reminded me of the stories I'd heard about Delores Umbridge. From what I'd heard, Jahnette made Delores look like a nurturing mother.

Kiernan clapped his hands together jovially, saying, "Well, I believe that's it! We'll see you all on September first." He gave a menacing wink, and with a loud scrape, half the room fled as fast as they could, all of them going home to talk about this horror behind closed doors, the only place that was even slightly safe now.

I grabbed Zowii's hand, and reached over for Nessie's as well. We left out of the first door we saw, and starting walking.

"We have to do it, Zoe." I said finally. "They were right; it's up to us now. We have to protect the little ones, and ourselves. We have to be ready for this."

My hand tightened on my little sister's as I said this. Nessie had just turned five, and would be going to Hogwarts this year with us. On normal circumstances, I would have been very excited, especially given the anti-homesick potions they were providing this year for the younger ones. I was very close to Nessie – she and Zowii were my best friends. Now that Hogwarts would be like this, however…

Zowii sighed. "I was thinking so too," she lowered her voice as we passed some so-called-loyalists, only speaking aloud for the benefit of Nessie, "Tonight?" she asked.

"Yes. Where do you think we should…?"

"I don't know…" Zowii frowned, pushing a dreadlock out of her eyes. "Diagon Alley?"

"No." all three of us agreed at the same time.

"What about the Burrow?" asked Nessie. Though only five, she was exceedingly smart and also very beautiful. She was as white as could be – though she was outside all the time – and had perfect skin, with rosy cheeks. We made an interesting trio, especially given that Zowii and I can read each others minds, and that we treat Nessie as an equal – which she is, mentally at least.

"No, not the Burrow," I said finally. "We don't want them to get in trouble."

"I know!" cried Zowii as we rounded a corner. Several muggles stared at us suspiciously. "We'll use the attic at the Rusty Hag!" she declared, referring to the wide fourth floor of the inn the Nessie and I's mother owned, where we lived when we weren't at Hogwarts.

I grinned. "Perfect, as always Zoe." I said.

Stepping casually into a deserted alley, we turned in a fast circle and were home in seconds.

The apparition rule was disbanded when the ministry fell (for the second time in less than half a century) as were the underage magic rules. Now they didn't care what you did in front of muggles as long as you "didn't hurt them". As was their front, at least. Honestly, you could pretty much do whatever you wanted, as long as it wasn't nice.

It was much darker in the countryside where the Rusty Hag was located than in the streets of the muggle world. Them and their electricity…

You could see all the stars here. The only lights came from the Hag and the few houses near it. It's beautiful here.

It only took us a few minutes to reach the house, and mom was waiting when we got there; she hadn't been able to go with us to the "orientation" because we had guests.

Seeing the grim looks on our faces, she paled slightly. "Is it that bad?" she asked. We nodded.

"They Cruciated Uncle Neville for asking a question. Right there, in front of everyone."

She put her face in her hands.

"We're calling them." I said. She nodded, expecting this.

"I never thought I'd see a second generation of kids branded for war." She said. "And you're even younger than they were! Goodness, Nessie's just five!" she was on the verge of tears, but we all new that it was better to include the little ones who could and would join. Nessie was a wizard child prodigy; we needed her.

I pulled out the coin that Aunt Hermione had given me, which we had multiplied and given to our friends.

I tapped my wand on it; it glowed slightly, and a message appeared around the edges.

_It.s time. Mt at rsty hag now. Atic._

I knew that across the country, twenty fake coins we heating up in pockets.

CRACK

CRACK

"Wow, they're fast." Zowii said, and we raced upstairs.

Kids were appearing every few feet when we got to the attic.

I yanked my wand out of my sleeve, casting several silencing charms all over, then surveying the troops.

About half were in pajamas; Oakleigh was wearing only a towel, shampoo in her hair, her little sister in a dressing gown beside her, and Pyper and Rowen were holding toothbrushes.

"What took you guys so long?" I asked sarcastically, grinning.

"This is war, and you need to be prepared in war." Said Lexi Caldwater, who was only eight. Her sister, Pyper, nodded.

"That's what this means isn't it?" asked Rowen, a large girl with dark brown hair and white-blue eyes. "They've really taken over, and we have to prepare for whatever happens."

They all looked at me. I nodded, not able to believe I was actually doing this.

Several people swayed and were forced to sit. Most had a look of resigned determination and defiance in their eyes, and several looked as though this came as no surprise, but was nevertheless very worrying.

"We need to elect a General, then." StatedZaireSmith, 13. Several people stared at him in confusion. "You know, like a Commander. That's what you do in war."

Etienne, who was our age, nodded in agreement. "We do."

Anuja –Zaire's twin – frowned. "But I thought it was obvious who our leader was," she said.

Sirius (also our age) rolled his eyes. "Of course it is, but we need a formal vote."

I looked at Zowii in confusion, but before I could say anything, Shirley (Sirius's twin sister; their parents thought they were hilarious) called, "All right, who votes for Ruari?" I almost gasped. Surly Shirley (no pun intended) wasn't talking about me? There must be another Ruari I didn't know about…

To my surprise, all hands went up but four. The tiny hands of Nessie, Lexi, Symphanie, and Jentry mixed with the much larger hands of Sirius, Rowen, and Emmett.

The ones who didn't raise their hands surprised me even more than the fact that they wanted _me _to be the leader.

Sakys Davies, Charitie Weasley, and Alice Antioch, my cousins, and sweet, loyal, Hufflepuff Wyl Wylleeams.

Everyone stared at the four of them; several people – Nessie and Zowii in particular – were flat out glaring.

They all blushed.

"We…we just don't think that a fifteen year old can lead an army," explainedAlice, looking very guilty.

"But you're fifteen too!" cried Shirley.

"Yeah, and we don't think we can do it either," said Charitie, her mocha skin flushed noticeably.

"Are you backing out then?" demanded Rowen furiously.

"Wait a minute, just hold on!" I said, finally regaining my speech. "I'm not going to be the leader!"

"You see?" said Sakys, but Sirius cut him off with a glare.

"I believe that the first sign of a good leader is denying that they are a good leader." Said Luna Autry, a Ravenclaw girl who was going into her forth year.

"Yeah," agreed Zowii, "I mean, Neville and Harry did the same thing."

_Damn._

"But-"

"Talk some sense into your friend, Zowii," Sabrina Gille said – or Sabs, as she prefered.

_You are a great leader, and you know it. _

_Well…maybe I'm okay, but that doesn't –_

_Who called this meeting? Who made top marks in Defense every year? Who could cast a patronus in first year?_

_But lots of people did that-_

_But not the first time. C'mon Ruari, you apparated at the age of thirteen to stop me from-_

_Okay, Zoe, I get it…do you think they really want me too?_

_Yep. And even the others will come around. Hey, what if I was your second? Then you wouldn't have to make all the decisions by yourself._

_I never thought you would be anything else._

I could feel her smile.

_Okay, but what do we do about ranks? We have to have ranks…_

_I'm thinking Commander for you, Lieutenant for me, then Colonel for each house rep, Major for their seconds, and Private for the rest._

_We are so stealing Neville's stuff. _

_I doubt that he'd mind._

I sighed aloud as we both opened our eyes. Zowii gave them a not-so-discreet thumbs up, and all but four cheered.

"All right, all right, you guys!" Zowii finally cried, waving her arms in the air. "First things first: we need to pick a rep from each house, and they will pick their second from their house."

We shared a look, a thought, then I said, "Sirius, will you be the Gryffindor first?"

He grinned, "Well if it's what the people want…"

"Yeah, yeah smartarse," Zowii rolled her eyes, "Your second?"

"Shirley." He stated simply. She grinned at her brother.

Okay, I'll admit: Zowii, Nessie, and I had thought a bit on this beforehand. We wanted to be prepared, just in case.

"Charitie?" I said. Charitie looked up, surprised. "Will you be the first for Ravenclaw?"

"Me? But…I voted against you." She said, sounding slightly ashamed.

"That doesn't matter; you're right for the job." Zowii said.

"Um…I pick Rowen then." She stammered, looking at the floor and not many anyone's eyes.

"Jaimie? For Hufflepuff?" Zowii asked.

Jaimie – an African girl with large eyes who had the top layers of her hair streaked rainbow – grinned sheepishly. "Sure. Um…Wyl." She said. Wyl also looked ashamed at being picked for an administration that didn't get his vote, but he nodded.

"Wait a minute!" cried Nessie indignantly. I had been waiting for this. "You did not give me a position, Ruari!" she said pointedly.

I smiled. "But I did. You little ones who are under ten will be in a separate section of dorms. You'll have to have a representative as well, one for each house." Nessie grinned broadly. "What house do you want to be in, Nessie?" I asked her, already knowing the answer.

"Gryffindor!" she cried.

"Then you'll be the Gryffindor juniors rep," I stated. She practically glowed with pride.

"Jentry, Lexi, what houses do you want to be in?" Zowii asked. Jentry bounced up and down excitedly.

"Hufflepuff!" she cried, and Lexi said, "Ravenclaw of course."

"Then we think you two should be the representatives of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw." Zowii finished. They grinned.

A few of the others looked dubious at our choices. Jentry was nine, Lexi seven, and Nessie was five. None of the contested the decision, though, so I went on.

"We'll need everyone to sign their names," I said, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill from Zowii. "And…I need a volunteer for a secret keeper."

There was silence at this, thought I knew they had been expecting it. Several hands went up, but I knew only one would work. Terrible as I felt for doing this to such a young child, and knelt down in front of Nessie.

"Nessie, would you be the secret keeper?" her small face was completely serious, though I heard I few gasps behind me.

"Yes." She stated in a strong voice.

I stood up, facing the room and closing my eyes as I worked to remember a memorized spell…

Focusing on the people around me, their families that would resist with us, the teachers who might help us, the places we would practice, I turned in a slow circle, saying "Fidelius Incorporium."

Everything seemed to glow. It was just how Uncle Neville had described it to me.

I focused now on what I had to do this, put this huge secret in a little girl who was only little in the physical form, "Fidelius Sanctus." I murmured.

It glowed brighter.

I drew a cube in the air, the light from the room condensing into it. "Fidelius Impervium." I said, and grabbed the box out of the air.

Letting it sit in my palm, I knelt back down next to Nessie again. I looked into her dark green eyes as she took it.

"Nessie Siobhan Tonks," I said, my voice surprising me with its strength. "Do you swear to become the Secret-Keeper for Dumbledore's Army and all those who are now, ever were, or ever shall be in it? That you will be solely responsible under magical oath for the knowledge of membership, purpose, missions, and all the functions and places of meeting? That you understand the nature of the Fidelius Charm, and hold it to be true and binding upon you for all time, or until it is released by the one who placed it upon you?"

"I do." Came her small voice.

"Fidelius Finite." The box floated out of her hand and turn three times in the air. It sped into her chest, disappearing right above her heart.

Though I was ready for it, it scared the hell out of me as she gasped, her spine arching backwards, her small body stiff as her eyes rolled back in her head and the glow seemed to come from her very skin, pouring out of her eyes and mouth. She floated there for a moment, then the glow faded and she fell into my arms.

She opened her eyes and grinned at me.

"That's was neat!" she said, standing up. "Can I do it again?"

Most of the others were staring at me as if I'd lost my mind. Finally, Sakys said what I had been waiting for, "You see? You all just elected a leader who immediately put magical oath on a five year old."

"Thank you, Sakys." I said calmly. I Turned, facing everyone, "I asked Nessie because she is the last person they would expect us to use. If they find out – or, more probably, when – I doubt that it will even cross their minds that we used the Fidelius charm, as it's so complicated and it's not widely known that Neville used it.

"She is the youngest member, and they are very unlikely to harm her, because she is so young of course, but also because the Secret cannot be reveled by the Secret-Keeper if they are being tortured, as everyone knows. Also, Nessie may be five physically, but she's just as smart as any of us, and just as able to understand. She knows what she's doing, and so do I."

I paused, then asked, "Have I missed anything, Private Davies?"

He flushed bright red.

"All right," I said, turning back to the parchment I still held. I wrote DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY on the top, then signed my name and title, passing it to Zowii.

When everyone had signed, this is what we had:

**DUMBLDORE'S ARMY**

_Ruari Tonks – Commander_

_Zowii Tuesday – Lieutenant_

_Agnes (Nessie) Tonks – Admiral, Gryffindor juniors._

_Oakleigh Abbott – Private, Gryffindor._

_Symphanie Abbott, Private, Gryffindor._

_ZaireSmith – Private, Gryffindor._

_Anuja Smith – Private, Gryffindor._

_Etienne Potter – Private, Gryffindor._

_Sirius Black – Colonel, Gryffindor._

_Shirley Black – Major, Gryffindor._

_Jamaica(Jaimie) Jhonsyon-Whytte – Colonel, Hufflepuff._

_Jentry Jhonsyon-Whytte – Admiral, Hufflepuff._

_Charlotte (Charleigh)Smythe – Private, Ravenclaw._

_Hezekiah (Hez) Weasley – Private, Gryffindor._

_Sakys Davies – Private, Gryffindor._

_Alice Antioch – Private, Hufflepuff._

_Charitie Weasley – Colonel, Ravenclaw._

_Rowena(Rowen)Natsumekka – Major, Ravenclaw._

_Wyl Wylleeams – Major, Hufflepuff. _

_Pyper Caldwater – Private, Hufflepuff. _

_Lexi Caldwater – Ravenclaw, Admiral._

_Sabrina (Sabs) Gille – Private, Gryffindor._

_Emmett Jordan – Private, Gryffindor._

Finally, all the names were signed. Everyone was now talking amongst themselves, glad to see their friends again.

I searched out the three I needed, and beckoned Lexi, Jentry, and Nessie over to the far corner.

"I'm going to have to ask you three for a big favor," I started, trying to look very serious because I knew that kids loved being asked to do important things. Nessie wasn't fooled on bit, but she played along, and they all nodded gravely.

"I need you three to make sure you don't tell anyone about this, none of your friends, okay?"

"But…then how will we get people?" asked Jentry.

"I'll take care of that, you guys will just need to keep them informed when they come. Also, Lexi, Jentry, don't tell your parents about this. I mean, I know they have an idea of what you and your sisters will be doing, but don't tell them that you're in it or that you're very important officers, okay?" I threw in the last bit of flattery because I knew that they would like it, but it was also true. Everyone in this room was infinitely important.

They beamed happily, and they all promised.

I knew that the Fidelius charm would keep them from telling their parents anyway, but I thought that might be a little hard for the youngest ones…trying to tell their parents but having their tongs roll up in their mouths or such.

I was about to call everyone to order, tell them I was thankful they had all joined, and then get them out so I could start panicking about this properly, but several loud CRACKs from the front lawn stopped all the conversation.

Twenty-three wands appeared, and I motioned for everyone to get down as I crept over to the lone attic window, passing Etienne, Shirley, Luna, all crouched down with their wands ready. Nessie and Zowii were nearest to the window. There were several more cracks, the unquestionable sounds of apparition. It was normal for people to apparate to the Hag, but somehow I didn't think these people were guests.

I carefully lifted my face to the window, peering out into the velvety darkness. There wasn't a sign of movement. I stood there for a moment, I could _feel _someone out there, and then I realized that the light was on.

There was only a split-second warning; swirls of black coats against black night.

"Get down!" I yelled, pulling Zowii and Nessie with me as I fell flat on the floor.

The window exploded in a burst of purple light, taking park of the wall with it. People downstairs were screaming, the people outside were laughing.

"Get out of here, all of you," I said. "Dissapparate. We don't need them to find out what's going on here."

"We're not leaving." Etienne said firmly. "They already saw us, for one thing, but we need to stick together. There's nothing illegal about defending yourself…yet."

"Yeah," agreed Rowen. "We'll be training for this sort of thing, aren't we? They won't be out to kill, they're just baiting. It's the perfect practice."

"Fine then," I decided. "If you want to stay, then stay. If you don't you'd better go now." There were three more cracks, this time from the attic, and I didn't have to look around to know who had left. Oakleigh and Symphanie's parent worked at the ministry; they could be tortured if their children were seen fighting. The others were Sakys and Alice, and it hurt more than I cared to think about that my two cousins believed in me so little.

Bangs from downstairs. More screams as the guests tried to stop them from entering. I realized now who the people were: Masks, people who supported the ministry and tended to go around terrorizing people who didn't, or just weaker people in general. They always wore white opera masks, taking a leaf from the Death Eaters' books.

"Let's go," I said, jumping up and pulling Nessie and Zowii with me.

With the three of us in the lead, the D.A ran to the attic door, and I threw it open. The pull-down stairs were gone.

More screams. There was no time. I jumped down the ten feet without thinking, and it wasn't too bad. Nessie jumped after me, which really scared me, but she was a strong kid. I heard thuds as the others followed.

We ran down the staircase, finding a very interesting scene at the bottom. No less that three dozen people were there, six men and women – including mum – were holding the spell-proof doors shut as they banged and vibrated from the kicks of the Masks on the other side. Two men and two women were firing spells from the living room and kitchen windows, several more preparing to duel, and a group of scared-looking kids around Jentry's and Nessie's ages were huddled in the corner.

Several of the guests looked very surprised and heartened at the sudden upsurge in numbers, but then they really looked at us, realized we were kids, and looked very depressed at this.

Filled by a sudden urge to prove them wrong, I said, "Zaire, Anuja, Lexi, Jentry – you guys go talk to those kids, make sure they're not hurt, and protect them as best you can." I picked them because I thought it would make the other kids more comfortable. They all responded in 'yes sir's – obviously wanting to impress the adults as well – that made me go a little red, but I pushed it away.

"Emmett?" I called.

"Bomb?" he asked in reply, grinning from the kitchen doorway.

"Bomb." I confirmed. He had inherited his dad's mischief ability, that was certain.

"Two minutes!" he called from the kitchen. Wyl followed him to help.

The front door gave an almighty lurched, and the people guarding it flew back a few spaces. They were tired.

Zowii realized this at the same time as me, and we ran forward, planting our feet firmly and bracing our hands on the doors. Immediately, Rowen Sirius, Sabs, Shirley, and Etienne were behind us.

"Go!" I yelled to the adults, and they all darted to the right. The other four were against us in a second, and we were holding it.

It wasn't easy.

Finally, Wyl and Emmett emerged from the kitchen carrying a muggle toaster.

"EVERYONE TO THE BACK! TWENTY SECONDS!" he yelled, and we pulled back from the door. They immediately opened it, laughing terribly in triumph. Some of the children still in the corner started to cry, but Emmett threw the toaster at their feet, and we all ran as far as we could, jumping at the last second as it blew.

It wasn't a huge bomb, but it was big enough. It hadn't – of course – blew up any of the Masks; they had all ran back out, but were now trickling back in.

The kids were really crying now, all but my soldiers, and I was proud of them.

"So you thought you're little muggle toy could hurt us, did you?" sneered one of the Masks. "Let's see…shall we start with this one, boys?" he was pointing at Nessie. Before I could do anything, she had whipped out her wand, and blue sparks flew out as the Mask was blasted into the wall.

So the battle started.

Jentry, Zaire, Lexi, and Anuja were standing in a semi-circle in front of the kids, holding themselves perfectly – though it was probably because the Masks were reluctant to _really _jinx them, instead just sending stunning and body-binding curses.

For us older ones – however – and the adults, it was different. Rowen had several cuts on her face, and they were bleeding green. I was almost positive my wrist was broken, and Zowii's ankle definitely was. Her arm was wrapped around my shoulders to keep her off her bad leg, and she hadn't so much as cried out when it happed, though she did respond with a vicious stunning spell.

Nessie was behind us, and though she didn't know any real spells, having just got her wand and not been to Hogwarts yet – but she simply focused on what she wanted to do, and it would happen. All you needed was willpower and determination.

Only Jaimie had been stunned out of us, and Charleigh was unconscious, but about half of the adults lay on the floor.

Then all of the sudden, the men stopped. Several grabbed their unconscious, they turned on their heels, and they were gone.

We all looked around in confusion, still ready for them to appear again, but nothing happened.

"What…?" murmured a woman in her thirties.

"Why did they just leave like that?" asked another adult.

"Do you think they'll come back?" another said.

My mouth fell open. _These _were supposed to be our role models? Only my mom and two other men looked as concerned as they should, but they were still in shock.

"Alright," I said firmly, setting Zowii down on a couch, "everyone but you two –" I pointed at Zowii and Rowen, whose cuts where getting greener "– split up into groups of four, we have to search the perimeter _now._"

They did so immediately, Sirius, Etienne, Sabs, and Jentry out one side door, Charitie, Luna, Pyper, and Lexi out the other door, leaving Hez Weasley and Shirley with Nessie and me.

"Can you heal them?" I asked mum. She nodded. "C'mon," I said to Nessie, Hez, and Shirley, and we ran out the front door.

It felt so unspeakably wrong to be doing anything without Zowii, but I pushed that from my mind for now.

"Okay, let's go to the shed first," I said, "I don't really think they'll be here, but better safe than sorry."

Ten minutes later, we had found nothing, and neither had anyone else. The Hag had been repaired, the only real damage having been to the front door, banisters, and a few paintings.

Zowii's leg was perfect, and Rowen's face was back to its normal appearance. Charleigh and Jaimie were both awake.

I did the rounds, making sure everyone was still okay. Far from it – they had huge smiles on their faces, all of them, and I told them without embellishing at all that they had all done amazingly.

After a little while, all the D.A had left except for me, Zowii, and Nessie. All of the parents had taken their children to bed, and now the only people left were us three, my mom, and two old men and a woman.

Just as I saw off the last two – Sirius and Shirley – mum called me into the living room.

Zowii and Nessie were sitting on one couch, facing the five adults. As I walked in, one of the men – who had very short white hair and wore large glasses – stood up.

"Jack Burgandy," he said, offering his hand. I remembered hearing about him before – he was one of the few good people left in the Ministry. "I've heard a great deal about you, Miss Tonks, but it doesn't seem to have done you justice," he grinned at me, and, though I normally would have blushed, the recent skirmish seemed to have brought with it new strength, and I shook his hand firmly.

"Edmund Aarons," said the other man, standing up as well. He had a very large nose, many lines on his face, and his thinning white hair was swept back. I shook his hand as well, and we sat down.

Mum stared at me, Nessie, and Zowii, and I knew she was trying to get us to confess what had happened in the attic. We stared back evenly.

"Well," said the woman, Dorothy Stranlay, clapping her hands together. "I must say that I for one am impressed. When Andie told us her daughters were planning to create a defense group, I had no idea it would be so…advanced, so soon."

I felt a surge of emotion that wasn't mine when Dorothy referred to mum's "daughters." Zowii's face was smooth, but her mind showed what she was really feeling. Her parents didn't really love her; they were not very fun and very distant from their only daughter. I grabbed her hand casually, seeing Nessie shift on her other side to do the same. Though Nessie couldn't read our minds, she was very good with emotions.

"Advanced? What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well I would assume that would be obvious, dear," said mum, her dark eyebrows raised, "for one thing, you had around twenty kids listening to you, some of which addressed you as 'sir'. You were about ten times more prepared and calm than us, and you all dueled like adults, even the little ones." I started to say something, but she cut me off, "And you thought of things I never would have, like protecting the children, some of whom were the same age as your fighters, and scanning the area after they left."

"It truly is amazing," agreed Dorothy, "You are a natural leader, Ruari."

I forced my mouth to close, sharing a look with Zowii and Nessie, who both looked as stunned as I was.

_But she's right…you are a good leader._ Thought Zowii. Nessie nodded, guessing what she said, and I felt my face heat up.

"What we want to know," said Burgandy. The four adults leaned closer to us. "Is what you are planning."

I shared a quick glance with Nessie and Zowii, then we all said in unison: "We can't tell you."

Then Jack and the other man, whom I recognized as another ministry employee, Edmund Aarons, looked shocked, as if we would be excited to simply disclose the information of our secret resistance group to anyone. Dorothy and mum, however, looked disappointed but resigned, though I fully intended to tell the two of them later since Dorothy was like a grandmother to myself and Nessie.

"Why not?" demanded Aarons.

Zowii rolled her eyes, "Because it's a secret of course."

"Now wait a minute, Ed," said Burgandy as the other man turned red and started to say something, "this is their plan, and so far it's working better than anything we've tried. Let them be." The larger man glared at him, then got up and went down the hall.

"Sorry about him," Burgandy said sadly, shaking his head. "He's a bit…well, it was a pleasure to meet the three of you, and thank you." And he went down the hall after the other man.

The five of them watched the man until he was out of sight, then simultaneously me, Zowii, mum, and Dorothy stood up, grabbed the edge of our couches and pulling them until they were less than a foot apart.

We scanned the room and saw no one, but I yanked my wand out of my sleeve. _"Muffialto, Protego Circumvenio," _I said, just making certain that we wouldn't be heard and that no one could sneak up on us.

"All right," Mum started, eying us. "So what–"

"What was that spell?" asked Dorothy, interrupting mum.

"Muffialto?" I asked, confused.

"No, the other one." She said, "I've never heard Protego used like that before."

"Oh, it's a new one," I answered, "Charms Development just came out with it…it was invented by a man named Terry Boot." She was still looking at me like I had just made up my own spell right in front of her, so I continued. "Instead of the small Protego, which is only a personal shield, or Protego Totalum, which covers and area, or Protego Maxima for an even larger area, it just makes a circle around you…Circumvenio is a Latin word for circle…" Her staring was making me feel really awkward now, and I trailed off.

"I'm sorry," Dorothy said finally, shaking her head, "It's just that a fifteen year old should not be able to do new charms so easily…especially complicated ones like that."

I laughed. "Well that was easy to learn after talking Patronesses." I said before I could stop myself.

_Damn it._

She gasped. "You can do that?" she asked, awe in her voice.

I shifted uncomfortably, "Yeah…most of the forth and fifth years can. We learned it from Uncle Harry last year."

"Anyway," Mum cleared her throat, ignoring Dorothy's almost worshipful stare. "I believe we were talking about your secret organization?"

The three of us shared a look, and we knew we would have to let someone know. They were the best choice.

"Right now we have twenty-four, including us," I started. Then I thought for a second, remembering the looks on Sakys and Alice's faces. "Well, maybe only twenty-two. For some reason, most of them voted for me to be the 'leader'," Zowii rolled her eyes as I said this, "and we came up with titles for the various positions."

_That's what she said. _Thought Zowii, and I laughed out loud. Mum and Dorothy looked at me like I had gone mad.

"And what security do you have?" asked Dorothy, "I mean, what if someone were to tell?"

"They can't," I said, not really wanting to let Dorothy know about _another _piece of complicated magic I had done. "We…Um…well…I mean…" I sighed realizing it was inevitable, and said, "I used the Fidelius Charm."

Dorothy gasped, and mum looked as if she might collapse.

"Fi-Fidelius Charm?" stammered Dorothy, "But that is so hard to do, where did you learn that? Not to mention picking a Secret Keeper…"

I did not want to answer the Secret Keeper question and let them know that I had used my baby sister, even though I knew I had made the right choice, so I brushed it off. "Uncle Neville did it last time, and he told me how. It wasn't that hard, really." That seemed to increase their awe rather than placate them, and I looked around nervously, noticing the wireless in the corner which was playing the song, 'Open at the Close'.

"Who is your Secret Keeper?" asked mum curiously.

_Damn it._

Zowii looked at me._ We have to tell them. They'll understand. _

I ran my hand through my hair, sighing._ We need to teach Nessie ____Occlumency._

___Definitely._

_"Well?" Dorothy finally asked._

_"Is it Etienne? Jaimie? Shirley?" Mum suggested._

I shook my head, but before I could build up the courage to tell my mum what I had done to her youngest daughter, Nessie said, "I'm the Secret Keeper." Her green eyes were flashing, daring either of them to oppose her, and suddenly she looked simply like a small woman, rather than a five-year-old girl.

"Are you mad, Ruari?" cried Dorothy. "She's barely five years old! How could you do that to a little girl? Why-?" But mum raised her hand to stop her, and Dorothy glared at her instead.

"Andromeda, you cannot possibly be okay with this!"

"Ruari is the Commander of this operation, and I'm sure she had a good reason for picking Nessie, whom I'm sure wholeheartedly accepted." Mum brushed back her long black curls, staring at Dorothy firmly. "But to answer your question, no I'm not 'okay' with this. I hate that my children have to prepare for a possible war, and I hate that this is the second time this has happened, however, Nessie is not as young as her age implies." Mum looked as Nessie now, and it wasn't the look of a parent towards a girl who was barely older than a toddler, it was the look of a proud mother seeing that her youngest daughter was not a baby any longer, but a young girl, able and willing to fight for a good cause.

The song on the wireless changed, and I recognized it immediately. It was "The bravest man I ever knew" by Ministry of Magic.

_I have given you a name  
one that shows you can always change  
No matter the way or mistake you've made._

And sometimes consequences define your life with hardship.  
Will goodness will be the banner you raise?  
'Cause with his last breath, Severus said take it, take it.

Living in disguise.  
A true wizard on the inside.  
Not afraid of what he had to do.  
He was the bravest man I ever knew.

* * *

About ten minutes later, we finally went to bed.

Zowii's parents allowed her to stay with us almost all the time (after the Incident, that is), and our room was on the top floor with the attic, but on the opposite side of the house. After saying goodnight to Nessie and mum and Dorothy, we climbed the ancient spiral staircase that led from the back of the kitchen to the loft.

It happened immediately, like my subconscious had registered what my mind hadn't, and on the third step from the top, when Zowii had already climbed through, my legs suddenly refused to hold me upright and I collapsed.

_Ruari? What-_

_"Ruari?" _

_"Ruari!"_

Zowii's voice seemed to be coming through a tunnel as she pulled me inside. We were almost exactly the same size, so it was a pretty big achievement for her to hoist me straight up.

My head was spinning, and I head myself moan, "Zoe…"

"I know." Came the simple reply. "Here," she handed me a steaming cup. I wondered where she had gotten it.

"What's this?" I asked feebly.

She grinned, "Apple cider…with a hint of Calming Draught."

I didn't need any more persuasion.

After I had finished the drink, things seemed a lot clearer, and it had definitely taken the edge off my panic, though it was still there at the back.

"Zowii…what are we doing?" I pressed my fists in my eyes, trying to make sense of things, and was surprised to find tears there.

_I can't do this…_

_Yes you can._

_But look at me! I'm a mess! Leaders shouldn't cry._

She snorted. "That's dumb, and you know it. Of course they should, but it's who they cry around that matters. If one of their people dies, of course they should cry, otherwise everyone will think they don't care." She slid over next to me, putting her arm around my shoulder, "And that's why they have seconds…so they have someone to talk to and cry to about the smaller things." She brushed a kiss across my temple, and I was stuck by how lucky I was to have a friend like her.

"Why do this anyway?" I asked, both myself and her, "We don't even know that there will be a war…why scare everyone?"

"We're doing this _because _there might be a war," she reminded gently, "They need to know how to defend themselves, and we need to keep everyone's hopes up. It's not to scare them, but to prepare them. And if they haven't just given up at the end of the year, well –" she grinned in a slightly scary way, "Then we get all the numbers we've collected, and start this on our own terms."

The Calming Draught – along with Zowii's words – made me feel a lot better, and I suddenly felt very sleepy.

The last thing I remembered was floating unto something very soft…


	2. 2: Of Parents and Train Rides

**THIS STORY IS BEING EDITED AND IMPROVED.**

**In case I haven't mentioned, this story has mentions of slash and femslash (romantic but not graphic). I'm sure you can figure out who I'm speaking of ;) **

* * *

**CHAPTER 2**

"I'm sorry, Themp, I really didn't mean to leave you…" the rat stubbornly turned away from me, squeaking indignantly. "C'mon…things were kind of hectic yesterday, or didn't you here the part about the Ministry being completely insane?" he continued to ignore me. "Fine," I huffed, "be that way. I guess I'll eat these artichoke leaves myself then." His spiked ears pointed up at this, and he squealed happily, jumping out of the cage and landing on my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes, putting him down on the bed with his vegetable while I went over to my dresser.

I had had Themporan since I was eight. He was a bread of rat called a Pikachu, characterized by a yellow body, lighting-bolt shaped tail and pointed ears with black tips, and stripes of red on his sides and cheeks. The Pikachu's are very intelligent and magical rats, but very pricy. Don't ask how I got him.

I glanced at myself in the mirror. From the outside I looked like the same person: pink curls that went to my waist, parted on the left, heart-shaped face, thin lips, very light green eyes, my nose slightly bent from a Quidditch incident…

Zowii's appearances contrasted with mine a lot. Her face was round, framed by no less that fifty thin dreadlocks just past shoulder length, light pink, dark pink, light blond and dark blond all contrasting strikingly with her dark blue eyes,

Then I thought of Nessie, looking so completely different from myself even though we shared the same parents (because if you haven't guessed, Nessie and I were adopted by Andromeda; me at around age two, as my parents hadn't wanted me, and then they made another mistake and left behind another unwanted child, who she adopted as well.)

Her curly chestnut hair was as long as mine, her eyes an impossible bright green. She had my lips and heart-shaped face, but her nose was small and her skin was as pale as could be. Nessie is also small for her age, just over three feet tall, while Zowii and I are both five foot five.

I shook my head, cursing my habit of getting distracted so easily, and brushed quickly through my hair before pulling on a white shirt, black vest, jeans, and a purple-lined robe over it.

I grabbed my twelve inch maple Demiguise hair and hippogriff feather wand from the bed, shoving it into my sleeve quickly before grabbing Themporan and putting him in my pocket. He squealed in protest before I stuck some artichoke leaves in there with him, and I lifted up the trap door to lower myself unto the staircase.

I was happy to see that only Dorothy, mum, Zowii, Nessie, Evangelene (the maid of The Rusty Hag) and Bertha (The cook of The Rusty Hag) were left in the kitchen when I got down there.

I was surprised when they greeted me with simple things…just "Morning, Ruari!" not "So are you sane today, then, Ruari?"

I glanced at Zowii.

_You didn't tell them?_

She looked as if I'd punched her, and I immediately knew I'd made a mistake.

_No! Why would you think I'd do something like that?_

_Zoe…Zoe, I didn't mean – _

_Nevermind. It's fine._

But it wasn't fine. I knew it, and she knew it, and she knew that I knew. I wanted to talk to her about it, in fact it seemed to be affecting her a lot more than I knew because she wasn't really eating, just moving her eggs around her plate, which was very unlike her.

"Mail came early today," said mum, throwing the _Prophet _down in the middle of the table, and I pulled Themporan out of my pocket so he could go read as well. Evangelene glanced at the headline and sighed, and Bertha said, "Oh, will you look at this rubbish!"

The headline said, _"New Hogwarts 'Upper Year' building is now complete! Headmaster Argess says older students will be able to Floo directly in."_

"Now they're separating us before the train?" I cried in outrage, "We just won't see any of them, then?"

"My guess is that they assume that the older ones will be the most likely to resurrect the D.A," said Dorothy, "They have grandparents who were in it, plus they're all pretty advanced."

"Well they sure didn't expect this'n here!" cried Bertha jovially, thumping me on the back, "They won't know what hit 'em!"

Everyone continued eating, happily bashing the Ministry now that all the guests were gone and we wouldn't be overheard, but I barely paid attention to my food.

I pushed hard at the barrier that Zowii had put up. I couldn't believe she was using Occlumency against me…it had only happened twice before, and not for long either time.

Then I saw the red envelope peeking out from the rubbish bin in the corner, and I realized what had happened.

At that second, the walls broke, and I was filled with a pain that wasn't my own, but still was in a way. It took my breath away, and through it I heard bad things…bad things that were whispered, written, and overheard, about my friend.

_"Just not right…not what we wanted at all."_

_"Too much trouble…not worth it…"_

_"Looks like a hooligan…"_

_"…Thought our child would be beautiful…or pretty at least…"_

_Don't bother coming home…we'll write once in a while…don't want to get involved...resisting the government…such a disappointment…_

Tears were running down my face, matching hers, and I ignored the questions of the others as I leaped up, knocking my chair backwards as I pulled Zowii up and out of the room.

The Hag was no such place for things like this, so I opened the front door and grabbed my _Nimbus 2010 _and mounting it, pulling Zowii on in front of me.

The Nimbus was extremely fast, and it took us only minutes to reach the rocky hill about a half-mile east of the Hag – the very same hill we met on.

Zowii was sobbing now, and we not so much landed as crashed into the soft grass. I wrapped my arms around her, and I couldn't stop my own tears at my other half's pain.

Yet suddenly the pain was overshadowed by hatred towards her so-called 'parents'. I suddenly realized that, if they were with us right now, I could have produced a very powerful Cruciatus Curse. I wasn't proud of that at all, in fact it scared me.

_It's not true, you know. I mean, that you're not pretty. You're beautiful. They're just too conventional to appreciate originality._

She looked up at me, her dark blue eyes red, but she was smiling slightly.

_But you do._

_Of course I do! I have pink hair as well, remember?_

She sat up slowly, but didn't move off my lap. "I guess I always knew they were going to do this…I just didn't think it would hurt this bad." Then she smiled hesitantly, "Ruari, can I live with you?"

Trying not to laugh, I said, "I don't know…you do have _dreadlocks_…" I pulled at one playfully.

Then we both laughed, and I knew everything would be okay. I reached out to cup Zowii's cheek gently, and pulled her up, kissing her gently.

"I love you, _bain_." I said.

Zowii beamed.

"_Nim istas_." She whispered, leaning towards me again.

We had only been gone around fifteen minutes, but it was sheer pandemonium at the Hag when we returned.

"What the _hell-?"_

"One second everyone's eating, the next-"

"Running out of the kitchen, then zooming off at a hundred miles an hour-"

"Didn't know what to think-"

"And both of you crying-"

Finally I held up my hands, and the three voices stopped immediately.

_Maybe I am a good leader… _I thought

Zowii scoffed._ Maybe?_

_Can I tell them?_

She looked at me for a few seconds, then: _Yes._

I turned back to the adults – and Nessie, who was still at the table and had probably already guessed what was going on.

"Zowii's parents have decided that they no longer care for her company, which is what they told her in the letter they sent."

Bertha's face turned even reader than usual under her bright orange hair. _"Of all the-" _but she apparently couldn't find an appropriate word.

Mum's face softened, "I'm so sorry, Zowii, but of course your welcome here always." She reminded, and Zowii smiled gratefully.

Nessie got up and walked over to Zowii, pulling her down so she could hug her.

I smiled because my family was now perfect.

It felt like only a day before we were preparing to go back to school…and start training for a revolution against the government.

All the older kids had said goodbye to their younger siblings and friends the day before, as they were no longer allowed on the platform. About a dozen Masks were to be there, to 'make sure everything went smoothly', which probably meant 'to drag children away from their parents if they refused to get on the train'.

It was after ten o'clock, and we were running late.

Seven people ran around the house like they were on fire, making sure the Coding Quills were packed, the animals were ready – Zowii's owl Dobwig and my rat Themporan – we had the uniforms packed, and et cetera.

I was chasing an angry notebook down the hall when Nessie grabbed my hand and dragged me into a guest room.

Her angelic face was panicked, her green eyes even larger than usual as she said, "What house do you think it'll put me in?"

I should have expected this, I knew, but there had just been too much going on.

I smiled at her.

"It will put you into whatever house you want to be in, even if you belong in another one more. That's what it did for me."

"It did?"

"Yeah. I think it really wanted to put me in Hufflepuff, but I wanted to go wherever Zowii went, and I told it, so it put me in Gryffindor."

She nodded. "Well I want to be in Gryffindor the most, because all my friends are there!" she said matter-of-factly.

"I don't think you have any problems getting into Gryffindor." I grinned, and Nessie smiled gratefully.

And then: "IT'S TEN TWENTY FIVE, WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!" shouted Bertha, and the scrambling resumed with a vengeance.

Five minutes later, four adults, three 'kids', three large trunks, one rat, and an owl Dissaperated from the front yard of the Rusty Hag.

We appeared in a deserted alleyway next to King's Cross, and wasted no time running inside.

There were more than twice as many robed figures as usual, due to the new laws, and the muggles were staring at everyone like they must be missing something, which of course they were, but there was no time for that as we ran past platforms one through nine, not even trying to act casual as we ran through the barrier one by one.

There were Masks lined up against the walls, and we tried our best to ignore them. Zowii, Nessie, and I dragged our trunks into an empty compartment, then went back out to say goodbye.

There were kids everywhere crying, which was rare. Usually you only saw one or two first years that were already homesick, but with all the little kids there…

The trolley lady was handing out homesickness potions, luckily, but it was taking her a long time, as there were so many kids. As the three of us made our way back to mum, Dorothy, Evangelene, and Bertha, something happened that necessitated action.

There was a little girl, probably Nessie's age, over to the right of us. She had a round face, very dark lips, and a long, complicated braid. She was crying, clinging to a very old man who was either her father or grandfather. A boy beside her, who was about twelve and looked a lot like her despite having darker hair and eyes, was speaking comfortingly to her, trying to pull her off the man.

The Masks saw what was happening, and started towards them. We couldn't hear them from where we were, but the girl started crying harder, and the old man – who seemed very familiar…– was speaking very angrily to them. Then one of the Masks grabbed the little girl, trying to pull her away. The others were pulling out wands, pointing them at the old man.

Nobody on the platform was moving now, apart from the group in the corner, and I quickly caught Zowii's and Nessie's eye, and we started towards them.

"–but rules are rules, and the girl has to go like everyone else!" sneered on of the Masks, clearly enjoying the little girl's pain. "Now back off, old man, before we have to hex you!"

"Hey!" I called, and the Mask paused, glaring at me.

"Mind your own business, kid," another growled.

"I think hurting people because a little girl is homesick _is _my business." I said. They were stunned momentarily speechless, and I took advantage of that, turning to the little girl. "We all have to go," I said gently, "putting it off won't make it easier, and they might hurt you, or him."

Her lip trembled, and she whimpered, "It's not fair!"

I nodded, "I know." Then I got an idea.

"This is Nessie, she's five, and she's starting this year as well." I said, and Nessie stepped forward, taking the little girls' hand.

"They have lots of candy on the train." Said Nessie, and the girl smiled slightly. "You can sit with us if you want to."

"My brother too?" she asked, and the three of us nodded. "Okay," she said, smiling even more, and I made a mental note to make sure she got some of the potion, lest she revert back to sobbing.

The platform was still silent, the Masks seemed to have been struck dumb, and everyone else, I assumed, was amazed by our daring act. The two kids hugged the old man goodbye, grabbing their trunks.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?" asked Zowii boldly, and the Masks glared at her.

Talking and movement resumed as we walked with the two kids back to the train, hugging mum, Evangelene, Dorothy, and Bertha along the way. Mum whispered, "Congratulations," in my ear, Dorothy and Evangelene smiled brightly, and Bertha gave us a thumbs up.

As we walked by Sirius, Wyl, Shirley, Etienne, Sabs, and Emmett, they all grinned and saluted, through several people looked at them like they were mad.

It was ten fifty five now, though, and everyone was rushing to say goodbye.

I grabbed two potions from the trolley lady as we shuffled through to our compartment, handing them to the boy and girl as soon as we put their luggage up.

The boy smiled gratefully, already knowing what it was, and drank while his sister followed his lead.

"So, what are your names?" I asked as the girl finished her potion and looked much happier.

"Azraeh Harriet Dumbledore, and his name is Ambrose Neville," she said, and I gasped.

"So…was that man your father?"

"Yeah," said the boy, "Aberforth Dumbledore."

_Wow…he's really old._

_How old?_

_I think…no idea. At least a hundred and twenty, I'd guess._

_Bloody hell…_

Then the compartment door flew open, and five more people joined our group.

Rowen,Zaire, Anuja, and two young boys I didn't recognize were pulling the shades on the compartment windows, locking the sliding door.

"What's going on?" I demanded, instantly alert.

"Two things…" panted Rowen, "First, look at this." She tossed a _Prophet _at me, and I read the headline aloud.

"Ministry employee Josef Abbott disappears from home; Ministry suspects foul play." I gasped as I realized who it was, "Not Oakleigh and Symphanie's dad?"

Anuja nodded sadly. "You have to read between the lines. He spoke out against the Ministry, and now he's gone."

"Oh my God…" I collapsed into a seat, "It's just like last time, except now it's not one guy with followers, it's nearly everyone in power!"

Zowii looked shaken, but she frowned as she said, "What was the other thing?"

"Oh yeah," said Rowen, her round face going pale. "They're having dementors inspect the train."

Nessie gasped, Zowii turned slightly green, and Azraeh started to cry again.

"_Dementors _?" I cried, "On the _train?"_

Before anyone could answer, there was an ear-piercing scream.

I jumped to my feet, followed by Zowii and Nessie, and we burst out of the compartment followed byRowen,Zaire, and Anuja. Heads were poking out all down the hallway, and with a surge of pride, I saw more of the D.A standing ready with their wands out like us.

Before we could decide where the scream had come from, the magically amplified voice of Jolon Kiernan echoed through the train:

"Attention children, this is your headmaster speaking. We would like to ask you to please remain calm. The dementors are here to inspect the train for you safety, and you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. This will only take a minute, I assure you, so please do not be difficult…the dementors are not as forgiving as I..." his deep laugh echoed terrifyingly, and suddenly we were pushed by something unseen back into the compartment.

The doors closed, and I heard thuds and small cries as the other students were – presumably – forced back in as well.

"Forgiving my…" Rowen growled, clenching her fists.

"For our protection?" scoffedZaire, "They must think we're stupid."

"Really stupid." Agreed Anuja.

"But that's a good thing." I said. Ten pairs of eyes looked at me like I was nuts. "Well, if they think we're stupid, then they'll underestimate us, which is exactly what we need."

They nodded.

"That makes sense," agreed Rowen, "But–"

And it happened.

First the long, rattling breath. Then the coldness, the lights turning off, and a robed black figure was pulling open the compartment door.

I forced myself not to reach for my wand, instead I grabbed Azraeh and pulled her into my lap. She was sobbing and shaking, and Nessie was trembling just as bad beside me and I couldn't see or feel the others and then…

I couldn't feel anything but fear, sadness, and regret…

My first day at Hogwarts, when I fell in the lake, then got lost on the way to bed and had to sleep on a windowsill…a Bogart taking the form of a giant, deep hole in Defense Against the Dark Arts, then shifting to a cornfield…the day I got lost in a muggle forest –

_But wait, _my mind whispered to me, _None of those were just you, you were never alone…when you fell in the lake, Zowii fell in after you. You both got lost that night, and when you were scared of the Bogart, she helped you. She and Nessie were with you when you got lost in the woods last year…you are not alone._

I couldn't bring myself to pull out my wand cast a patronus, but the dementor was leaving, either pushed away but my happy thoughts, or simply done with his mission. The compartment warmed up and the lights turned on.

Azraeh was still shaking. Ambrose was very pale. Rowen looked extremely green, but other than that, everyone seemed…well not okay, but alive.

Not even thinking, I stood up with Azraeh still in my arms and reached up to open my trunk, silently thanking my mother as I grabbed a small bar of chocolate and sat back down. The two boys whose names I still didn't know were looking at me in confusion, but the others had there heads between their knees, heads pressed against the cool window, or were simply shaking uncontrollably.

I pointed my wand at the chocolate bar. _"Engorgio."_ I said, and it grew to about four times its normal size. I passed out pieces to everyone.

"What's this for?" asked Ambrose, but before I could answer the smaller of the two boys said, "It's chocolate, so it releases endorphins, and is the best and only treatment after an encounter with a dementor." I was a little surprised, I'll admit, because the boy looked to be only around eight years old.

"I'm Severus Potter, by the way," he said, holding out his hand cordially, "But everyone calls me Sev." He nodded his head towards the taller boy, "This is my twin brother, Locklan, but everyone calls him Locke."

The others – who had recovered slightly thanks to my mum's chocolate – were looking as confused as I felt. The two boys looked enough alike to pass for brothers, but _twins?_

Sev was at least three inches shorter, and he was wearing a fedora over his light-blond hair. He had a small face that was still round and he was thin. The other boy – Locke – had a very round head, his blond hair parted neatly and slightly shorter in the back than Sev's. He was also thicker in the stomach, though not really enough to be called chubby. They both had olive-green eyes.

They seemed oblivious to our amazement, and Sev continued, "We heard you were–" he dropped his voice slightly "–re-forming the D.A."

I glared atRowen,Zaireand Anuja as he said this. "This is supposed to be a secret!" I reminded them.

Rowen nodded hastily, "We know, but…I mean their _grandfather _started it all, remember?"

Oh. Right.

I frowned. "Nevermind then." Then I remembered, "Oh, by the way, these two are Ambrose and Azraeh Dumbledore." While everyone introduced themselves, I pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. We had lists to make.

A few hours later, after the entire D.A – plus several new people – had stopped by little by little, we had a list.

The list was made of up things we all thought we should do to prepare, lessons that were necessary, and what we could do to revolt.

Patronesses were a must, obviously, and so were basic defensive spells, and non-verbal spells. The most dreaded thing was definitely number seven 'Get into shape', because they all knew that we didn't just mean 'Be able to run a mile without collapsing'.

It was necessary, though, and so was duplicating coding-quills and D.A coins, not to mention a hundred other things we needed to do.

In the same newspaper that Rowen had showed us with the article about Mr. Abbott, there were three other stories about 'disloyalty' and other people being 'detained', including one about a whole family, including three young kids, who had been sent to Azkaban.

"They aren't warming up to things like the Death Easters did," I said grimly after Locke read the other stories aloud.

Anuja nodded, "I was thinking that too. Right after Kiernan was elected, it started to happen, right? And with the Death Eaters they had to kill Scrimgeor, imperise Thicknesse, and pass all those 'Muggle-Born registration' laws."

I nodded in grim agreement.

"We have to work fast as well," I stated, "Lie low for a few months, get everyone into shape and down with basic spells, then start the revolutions."

Ambrose, whom, along with Azraeh had immediately asked to join once they found out what we were doing, given that it was in honor of their Uncle, grinned in a slightly scary way.

It was getting dark now, and I could tell we were getting close.

We all changed into our robes, the kids under eleven wearing the plain black uniform that would be transfigured after they were sorted.

As the train pulled to a stop and we pulled down our trunks and animals, I prepared myself for the worst. I don't really know what I was expecting, maybe dementors lining the streets of Hogsmede, armed Masks every few feet, fog surrounding the train…

But everything looked normal – plus about a hundred extra kids. Hagrid could be seen easily over the heads of…well, pretty much everyone.

Before I could say it, Zowii voiced what I was thinking. "Do you think they'll take everyone across the lake? They're going to need a lot more boats…"

But as we walked past the dock were the first years usually went off, we saw a very large sailboat, simple white with _The Pink Squid _written on the side.

Hagrid was calling all the young ones over, and they boarded the boat warily.

"I'm scared…" whimpered Azraeh. I was so used to the mature attitude Nessie took to everything that it took me a second to realize that this was normal behavior for a five-year-old.

Then Nessie did something that made actually want to cry. She took Azraeh's hand, saying, "It's okay. It's just a boat. Plus, I hear they have tons of food at the feast when they get there. Do you like chicken?" Then they disappeared into the crowd after Jentry and Lexi.

As the rest of us walked to the carriages, I heard Emmett singing something softy…

_"We thought it was over_

_We thought we had won_

_but evil continues forever on_

_so we must as well_

_in good times and bad_

_for it's our battle to fight_

_it's our battle to win_

_For we are Dumbledore's Army_

_They say we're kids who have grown up to fast_

_But we're Dumbledore's Army_

_and when everything fails, we hold to the last"_


	3. 3: The First Revolt

**First of all: pronounciation guide:**

**Ruari is pronounced like rory, and Ruari's middle name - Aibhlinn - is pronounced Av-Leen.**

**Zowii is just a different spelling of zoey**

**Ambrose is pronounced Am-broze**

**Azraeh is pronounced az-rah**

**Anuja is pronounced A-new-jah**

**Etienne is pronounced eh-tee-in**

**And i think the rest are self explanatory :) (It really bugs me when i can't pronounced stuff so...)**

**Just to warn you, it gets pretty mushy :')**

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"I'm sorry, Themp, I really didn't mean to leave you…" the rat stubbornly turned away from me, squeaking indignantly. "C'mon…things were kind of hectic yesterday, or didn't you here the part about the Ministry being completely insane?" he continued to ignore me. "Fine," I huffed, "be that way. I guess I'll eat these artichoke leaves myself then." His spiked ears pointed up at this, and he squealed happily, jumping out of the cage and landing on my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes, putting him down on the bed with his vegetable while I went over to my dresser.

I had had Themporan since I was eight. He was a bread of rat called a Pikachu, characterized by a yellow body, lighting-bolt shaped tail and pointed ears with black tips, and stripes of red on his sides and cheeks. The Pikachu's are very intelligent and magical rats, but very pricy. Don't ask how I got him.

I glanced at myself in the mirror. From the outside I looked like the same person: pink curls that went to my waist, parted on the left, heart-shaped face, thin lips, very light green eyes, my nose slightly bent from a Quidditch incident…

Zowii's appearances contrasted with mine a lot. Her face was round, eyes dark blue, face framed by no less that fifty thin dreadlocks just past shoulder length, light pink, dark pink, light blond and dark blond all contrasting strikingly with her dark blue eyes,

Then I thought of Nessie, looking some completely different from myself even though we shared the same parents (because if you haven't guessed, Nessie and I were adopted by Andromeda; me at around age two, as my parents hadn't wanted me, and then they were killed and left behind another unwanted child, who she adopted as well.)

Her chestnut was as long as mine, her eyes an impossible bright green. She had my lips and heart-shaped face, but her nose was small and her skin was as pale as could be. Nessie is also small for her age, just over three feet tall, while Zowii and I are both five foot five.

I shook my head, cursing my habit of getting distracted so easily, and brushed quickly through my hair before pulling on a white shirt, black vest, jeans, and a purple-lined robe over it.

I grabbed my twelve inch maple Demiguise hair and hippogriff feather wand from the bed, shoving it into my sleeve quickly before grabbing Themporan and putting him in my pocket. He squealed in protest before I stuck some artichoke leave in there with him, and I lifted up the trap door to lower myself unto the staircase.

I was happy to see that only Dorothy, mum, Zowii, Nessie, Evangelene and Bertha- and were left in the kitchen when I got down there.

I was surprised when they greeted me with simple things…just "Morning, Ruari!" not "So are you sane today, Ruari?"

I glanced at Zowii.

_You didn't tell them?_

She looked as if I'd punched her, and I immediately knew I'd made a mistake.

_No! Why would you think I'd do something like that?_

_Zoe…Zoe, I didn't mean – _

_Nevermind. It's fine._

But it wasn't fine. I knew it, and she knew it, and she knew that I knew. I wanted to talk to her about it, in fact it seemed to be affecting her a lot more than I knew because she wasn't really eating, just moving her eggs around her plate, which was very unlike her.

"Mail came early today," said mum, throwing the _Prophet _down in the middle of the table, and I pulled Themporan out of my pocket so he could go read as well. Evangelene glanced at the headline and sighed, and Bertha said, "Oh, will you look at this rubbish!"

The headline said, _"New Hogwarts 'Upper Year' building is now complete! Headmaster Argess says older students will be able to Floo directly in."_

"Now they're separating us before the train?" I cried in outrage, "We just won't see any of them, then?"

"My guess is that they assume that the older ones will be the most likely to resurrect the D.A," said Dorothy, "They have grandparents who were in it, plus they're all pretty advanced."

"Well they sure didn't expect this one here!" cried Bertha jovially, thumping me on the back, "They won't know what hit 'em!"

Everyone continued eating, happily bashing the Ministry now that all the guests were gone and we wouldn't be overheard, but I barely paid attention to my food.

I pushed hard at the barrier that Zowii had put up. I couldn't believe she was using Occlumency against me…it had only happened twice before, and not for long either time.

Then I saw the red envelope peeking out from the rubbish bin in the corner, and I realized what had happened.

At that second, the walls broke, and I was filled with a pain that wasn't my own, but still was in a way. It took my breath away, and through it I heard bad things…bad things that were whispered, written, and overheard, about my friend.

"_Just not right…not what we wanted at all."_

"_Too much trouble…not worth it…"_

"_Looks like a hooligan…"_

"…_Thought our child would be beautiful…or pretty at least…"_

_Don't bother coming home…we'll write once in a while…don't want to get involved...resisting the government…such a disappointment…_

Tears were running down my face, matching hers, and I ignored the questions of the others as I leaped up, knocking my chair backwards as I pulled Zowii up and out of the room.

The Hag was no such place for things like this, so I opened the front door and grabbed my _Nimbus 2010 _and mounting it, pulling Zowii on in front of me.

The Nimbus was extremely fast, and it took us only minutes to reach the rocky hill about a half-mile east of the Hag.

Zowii was sobbing now, and we not so much landed as crashed into the soft grass. I wrapped my arms around her, and I couldn't stop my own tears at my other-half's pain.

Yet suddenly the pain was overshadowed by hatred towards her so-called 'parents'. I suddenly realized that, if they were with us right now, I could have produced a very powerful Cruciatus Curse. I wasn't proud of that at all, in fact it scared me.

_It's not true, you know. I mean, that you're not pretty. They're just too conventional to appreciate originality._

She looked up at me, her dark blue eyes red, but she was smiling slightly.

_But you do._

_Of course I do! I have pink hair, for Merlin's sake…_

She sat up slowly, but didn't move off my lap. "I guess I always knew they were going to do this…I just didn't think it would hurt this bad." Then she smiled hesitantly, "Ruari, can I live with you?"

Trying not to laugh, I said, "I don't know…you do have _pink hair_…"

Then we both laughed, and I knew everything would be okay.

We had only been gone around fifteen minutes, but it was sheer pandemonium at the Hag when we returned.

"What the _hell-?"_

"One second everyone's eating, the next-"

"Running out of the kitchen, then zooming off at a hundred miles an hour-"

"Didn't know what to think-"

"And both of you crying-"

Finally I held up my hands, and the three voices stopped immediately.

_Maybe I am a good leader… _I thought

Zowii scoffed._ Maybe?_

_Can I tell them?_

She looked at me for a few seconds, then: _Yes._

I turned back to the adults – and Nessie, who was still at the table and had probably already guessed what was going on.

"Zowii's parents have decided that they no longer care for her company, which is what they told her in the letter they sent."

Bertha's face turned even reader than usual under her bright orange hair. _"Of all the-" _but she apparently couldn't find an appropriate word.

Mum's face softened, "I'm so sorry, Zowii, but of course your welcome here always." She reminded, and Zowii smiled gratefully.

Nessie got up and walked over to Zowii, pulling her down so she could hug her.

I smiled because my family was now perfect.

It felt like only a day before we were preparing to go back to school…and start training for a revolution against the government.

All the older kids had said goodbye to their younger siblings and friends the day before, as they were no longer allowed on the platform. About a dozen Masks were to be there, to 'make sure everything went smoothly', which probably meant 'to drag children away from their parents if they refused to get on the train'.

It was ten o'clock, and we were running late.

Seven people ran around the house like they were on fire, making sure the Coding Quills were packed, the animals were ready – Zowii's owl Dobwig and my rat Themporan – we had the uniforms packed, and et cetera.

I was chasing an angry notebook down the hall when Nessie grabbed my hand and dragged me into a guest room.

Her angelic face was panicked, her green eyes even larger than usual as she said, "What house do you think it'll put me in?"

I should have expected this, I knew, but there had just been too much going on…I smiled at her.

"It will put you into whatever house you want to be in, even if you belong in another one more. That's what it did for me."

"It did?"

"Yeah. I think it really wanted to put me in Ravenclaw, but I wanted to go wherever Zowii went, and I told it, so it put me in Gryffindor."

She nodded. "Well I want to be in Gryffindor the most, because all my friends are there!" she said matter-of-factly.

"I don't think you have any problems getting into Gryffindor." I grinned, and Nessie smiled gratefully.

And then: "IT'S TEN TWENTY FIVE, WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!" shouted Bertha, and the scrambling resumed with a vengeance.

Five minutes later, four adults, three 'kids', three large trunks, one rat, and an owl Dissaperated from the front yard of the Rusty Hag.

We appeared in a deserted alleyway next to King's Cross, and wasted no time running inside.

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**So what do you think? sorry it wasn't very action-packed, but the next one is almost done!**

**by the way, if you want to see pictures of the characters - and some trailers i made - the link is on my profile :)**

**-Kab**

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**This chapter is dedicated to my one reviewer, Away-with-the-fairies :)**


	4. 4: Aberforth's children and the Express

**I know, i know...uploading twice in one night...i'm awesome :)**

**Anyway, please check out my pictures - link on my profile - cause it took me a long time to find those...not to mention make the videos :)**

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There were more than twice as many robed figures as usual, due to the knew laws, and the muggles were staring at everyone like they must be missing something, which of course they were, but there was no time for that as we ran past platforms one through nine, not even trying to act casual as we ran through the barrier one by one.

There were Masks lined up against the walls, and we tried to ignore them as Zowii, Nessie, and I dragged our trunks into an empty compartment, then went back out to say goodbye.

There were kids everywhere crying, which was rare. Usually you only saw one or two first years that were already homesick, but with all the little kids there…

The trolley lady was handing out potions, luckily, but it was taking her along time, as there were so many kids. As the three of us made our way back to mum, Dorothy, Evangelene, and Bertha, something happened that necessitated action.

There was a little girl, probably Nessie's age, over to the right of us. She had a round face, very dark lips, and a long, complicated braid. She was crying, clinging to a very old man who was either her father or grandfather. A boy beside her, who was about twelve and looked a lot like her despite having darker hair and eyes, was speaking comfortingly to her, trying to pull her off the man.

Then it happened.

The Masks saw what was happening, and started towards them. We couldn't hear them from where we were, but the girl started crying harder, and the old man – who seemed very familiar… - was speaking very angrily to them. Then one of the Masks grabbed the little girl, actually trying to pull her away. The others were pulling out wands, pointing them at the old man.

Nobody on the platform was moving now, apart from the group in the corner, and I quickly caught Zowii's and Nessie's eye, and we started towards them.

"-but rules are rules, and the girl has to go like everyone else!" sneered on of the Masks, clearly enjoying the little girl's pain. "Now back off, old man, before we have to hex you!"

"Hey!" I called, and the Mask paused, glaring at me.

"Mind your own business, kid," another growled.

"I think hurting people because a little girl is homesick _is _my business." I said. They were stunned momentarily speechless, and I took advantage of that, turning to the little girl. "We all have to go," I said gently, "putting it off won't make it easier, and they might hurt you, or him."

Her lip trembled, and she whimpered, "It's not fair!"

I nodded, "I know." Then I got an idea. "This is Nessie, she's five, and she's starting this year as well." I said, and Nessie stepped forward, taking the little girls' hand.

"They have lots of candy on the train." Said Nessie, and the girl smiled slightly. "You can sit with us if you want to."

"My brother too?" she asked, and the three of us nodded. "Okay," she said, smiling even more, and I made a mental note to make sure she got some of the potion, lest she revert back to sobbing.

The platform was still silent, the Masks seemed to have been struck dumb, and everyone else, I assumed, was amazed by our daring act. The two kids hugged the old man goodbye, grabbing their trunks.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?" asked Zowii boldly, and the Masks glared at her.

Talking and movement resumed as we walked with the two kids back to the train, hugging mum, Evangelene, Dorothy, and Bertha along the way. Mum whispered, "Congratulations," in my ear, Dorothy and Evangelene smiled brightly, and Bertha gave us a thumbs up.

As we walked by Sirius, Wyl, Shirley, Etienne, Sabs, and Emmett, they all grinned and saluted, through several people looked at them like they were mad.

It was ten fifty five now, though, and everyone was rushing to say goodbye.

I grabbed two potions from the trolley lady as we shuffled through to our compartment, handing them to the boy and girl as soon as we put their luggage up.

The boy smiled gratefully, already knowing what it was, and drank while his sister followed his lead.

"So, what are your names?" I asked as the girl finished her potion and looked much happier.

"Azraeh Harriet Dumbledore, and his name is Ambrose Neville," she said, I gasped.

"So…was that man your father?"

"Yeah," said the boy, "Aberforth Dumbledore."

_Wow…he's really old._

_How old?_

_I think…no idea. At least a hundred and twenty, I'd think._

_Bloody hell…_

Then the compartment door flew open, and five more people joined our group.

Rowen, Zaire, Anuja, and two young boys I didn't recognize were pulling the shades on the compartment windows, locking to sliding door.

"What's going on?" I demanded, instantly alert.

"Two things…" panted Rowen, "First, look at this." She tossed a _Prophet _at me, and I read the headline aloud.

"Ministry employee Josef Abbott disappears from home; Ministry suspects foul play." I gasped as I realized who it was, "Not Oakleigh and Symphanie's dad?"

Anuja nodded sadly. "You have to read between the lines. He spoke out against the Ministry, and now he's gone."

"Oh my God…" I collapsed into a seat, "It's just like last time, except now it's now one guy with followers, it's nearly everyone in power!"

Zowii looked shaken, but she frowned as she said, "What was the other thing?"

"Oh yeah," said Rowen, her round face going pale. "They're having dementors inspect the train."

Nessie gasped, Zowii turned slightly green, and Azraeh started to cry again.

"_Dementors _?" I cried, "On the _train?"_

Before anyone could answer, there was an ear-piercing scream.

I jumped to my feet, followed by Zowii and Nessie, and we burst out of the compartment followed by Rowen, Zaire, and Anuja. Heads were poking out all down the hallway, and with a surge of pride, I saw more of the D.A standing ready with their wands out like us.

Before we could decide where the scream had come from, the magically amplified voice of Jolon Kiernan echoed through the train:

"Attention children, this is your headmaster speaking. We would like to ask you to please remain calm. The dementors are her to inspect the train for you security, and you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. This will only take a minute, I assure you, so please do not be difficult…the dementors are not as forgiving as I..." his deep laugh echoed terrifyingly, and suddenly we were pushed by something unseen back into the compartment.

The doors closed, and I heard thuds and small cries as the other students were – presumably – forced back in as well.

"Forgiving my…" Rowen growled, clenching her fists.

"For our protection?" scoffed Zaire, "They must think we're stupid."

"Really stupid." Agreed Anuja.

"But that's a good thing." I said. Ten pairs of eyes looked at me like I was nuts. "Well, if they think we're stupid, then they'll underestimate us, which is exactly what we need."

They nodded.

"That makes sense," agreed Rowen, "But-"

And it happened.

First the long, rattling breath. Then the coldness, the lights turning off, and a robed black figure was pulling open the compartment door.

I forced myself not to reach for my wand, instead I grabbed Azraeh and pulled her into my lap. She was sobbing and shaking, and Nessie was trembling just as bad beside me and I couldn't see or feel the others and then…

I couldn't feel anything but fear, sadness, and regret…

My first day at Hogwarts, when I fell in the lake, the got lost on the way to bed and had to sleep on a windowsill…a Bogart taking the form of a giant, deep hole in Defense Against the Dark Arts, then shifting to a cornfeild…the day I got lost in a muggle forest –

_But wait, _my mind whispered to me, _None of those were just you, you were never alone…when you fell in the lake, Zowii fell in after you. You both got lost that night, and when you were scared of the Bogart, she helped you. She and Nessie were with you when you got lost in the woods last year…you are not alone._

I couldn't cast a patronus, but the dementor was leaving, either pushed away but my happy thoughts, or simply done with his mission. The compartment warmed up and the lights turned on.

Azraeh was still shaking. Ambrose was very pale. Rowen looked extremely green, but other than that, everyone seemed…well not okay, but alive.

Not even thinking, I stood up with Azraeh still in my arms and reached up to open my trunk, silently thanking my mother as I grabbed a small bar of chocolate and sat back down. The two boys who's names I still didn't know were looking at me in confusion, but the others had there heads between their knees, heads pressed against the cool window, or were simply shaking uncontrollably.

I pointed my wand at the chocolate bar. _"Engorgio."_ I said, and it grew to about four times its normal size. I passed out pieces to everyone.

"What's this for?" asked Ambrose, but before I could answer the smaller of the two boys said, "It's chocolate, so it releases endorphins, and is the best and only treatment after an encounter with a dementor." I was a little surprised, I'll admit, because the boy looked to be only around eight years old.

"I'm Severus Potter, by the way," he said, holding out his hand cordially, "But everyone calls me Sev." He nodded his head towards the taller boy, "This is my twin brother, Locklan, but everyone calls him Lockie."

The others – who had recovered slightly thanks to my mum's chocolate – were looking as confused as I felt. The two boys looked enough alike to pass for brothers, but _twins?_

Sev was at least three inches shorter, and he was wearing a fedora over his light-blond hair. He had a small face that was still round and he was thin. The other boy – Lockie – had a very round head, his blond hair parted neatly and slightly shorter in the back than Sev's. He was also thicker in the stomach, though not really fat. They both had olive-green eyes.

They seemed oblivious to our amazement, and Sev continued, "We heard you were – " he dropped his voice slightly "-re-forming the D.A."

I glared at Rowen, Zaire and Anuja as he said this. "This is supposed to be a secret!" I reminded them.

Rowen nodded hastily, "We know, but…I mean their _grandfather _started it all, remember?"

Oh. Right.

I frowned. "Nevermind then." Then I remembered, "Oh, by the way, these two are Ambrose and Azraeh Dumbledore." While everyone introduced themselves, I pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. We had lists to make.

A few hours later, after the entire D.A – plus several new people – had stopped by little by little, we had a list.

The list was made of up things we all thought we should do to prepare, lessons that were necessary, and what we could do to revolt.

Patronesses were a must, obviously, and so were basic defensive spells, and non-verbal spells. The most dreaded thing was definitely number seven 'Get into shape', because they all knew that we didn't mean 'Be able to run a mile without collapsing'.

It was necessary, though, and so was duplicating coding-quills and D.A coins, not to mention a hundred other things we needed to do.

In the same newspaper that Rowen had showed us with the article about Mr. Abbott, there were three other stories about 'disloyalty' and other people being 'detained', including one about a whole family, including three young kids, who had been sent to Azkaban.

"They aren't warming up to things like the Death Easters did," I said grimly after Lockie read the other stories aloud.

Anuja nodded, "I was thinking that too. Right after Kiernan was elected, it started to happen, right? And with the Death Eaters they had to kill Scrimgeor, imperise Thicknesse, and pass all those 'Muggle-Born registration' laws."

I nodded in grim agreement.

"We have to work fast as well," I stated, "Lie low for a few months, get everyone into shape and down with basic spells, then start the revolutions."

Ambrose, whom, along with Azraeh had immediately asked to join once they found out what we were doing, given that it was in honor of their Uncle, grinned in a slightly scary way.

It was getting dark now, and I could tell we were getting close.

We all changed into our robes, the kids under eleven wearing the plain black uniform that would be transfigured after they were sorted.

As the train pulled to a stop and we pulled down our trunks and animals, I prepared myself for the worst. I don't really know what I was expecting, maybe dementors lining the streets of Hogsmede, armed Masks every few feet, fog surrounding the train…

But everything looked normal – plus about a hundred extra kids. Hagrid could be seen easily over the heads of…well, pretty much everyone.

Before I could say it, Zowii voiced what I was thinking. "Do you think they'll take everyone across the lake? They're going to need a lot more boats…"

But as we walked past the dock were the first years usually went off, we saw a very large sailboat, simple white with _The Pink Squid _written on the side.

Hagrid was calling all the young ones over, and they boarded the boat warily.

"I'm scared…" whimpered Azraeh. I was so used to the mature attitude Nessie took to everything that it took me a second to realize that this was normal behavior for a five-year-old.

Then Nessie did something that made actually want to cry. She took Azraeh's hand, saying, "Its okay. It's just a boat. Plus, I hear they have tons of food at the feast when they get there. Do you like chicken?" Then they disappeared into the crowd after Jentry and Lexi.

As the rest of us walked to the carriages, I heard Emmett singing something softy…

"_We thought it was over_

_We thought we had won_

_but evil continues forever on_

_so we must as well_

_in good times and bad_

_for it's our battle to fight_

_it's our battle to win_

_For we are Dumbledore's Army_

_They say we're kids who have grown up to fast_

_But we're Dumbledore's Army_

_and when everything fails, we hold to the last"_

_

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_

**I wrote that, by the way...the one in chapter two was really by Ministry of Magic though...awesome wrock band ;)**

**So, the next chapter will have alot of action, but it does skip about a month though...**

**So please review, check out my pictures, and take the quiz on my profile! :)**


	5. 5: Torture and Train Rides

**Hmmm...30 hits, 2 reviews...well, i'm pretty bad at math, but i think that sucks.**

**To NotAnAverageSlytherin:**

**For the most part, yes. I purposly blocked out the parts where Terry and Michael died, though, because in cannon they didn't, and i love them too much :) But other than that, yes.**

**Since it's getting close to Christmas and i have family coming in from all over the ******* world, i have no idea. These next few chapters - and this one really - are going to be hard to write, cause there alot of research i need to do. This on is particularly long, though, so read little bits at a time :)**

**Anyway, please check out my pictures and the video...i think they're really cool, and i for one like to have a mental image of the people i read.**

**Here we go...i hope your wearing your diapers 'cause your gonna sh*t your pants...**

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It had been a full month of training, conditioning, lying low, and being good little minions, but the time was coming.

The D.A numbered thirty-four now, and to everyone's surprise, we had two Slytherins in our numbers.

Sunny Jhonez and Wendy Azzin had shown up to the first meeting, unwilling to tell us how they knew about us. Even with thirty-two wands pointed at them, they didn't so much as give us dirty looks, so we decided they were safe, and they were made Colonel and Major, respectively. (assuming – of course – that we got more members from Slytherin one day.)

With Rowen and Emmett leading us in conditioning, the first few weeks were pretty much hell, given as everyone – who would do it of course…which was everyone – were so sore that the slightest movement was agony. It was worth it though, because now even the little ones could climb up a twenty foot rope one handed, and everyone over twelve could run a mile in five minutes (Nessie included).

I owe the success to Kiernan, Crippin, and Taubert, I have to admit. I made it clear to the D.A that they were not to so much as back-talk the three adults until at least October, so the pent-up frustration from what used to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, and from Taubert inventing new and outrageous rules left right and center helped to fuel all the training.

Only three of the D.A had been unable to produce a corporal patronus, but Luna, Hez, Parslie and Azraeh were trying their best.

Surprisingly, nonverbal spells were the easiest for the younger kids: Jentry, Symphanie, Azraeh, Nessie, Lexi, Hez, Parslie, Lockie, and Sev, because they were used to doing things wandless when they were angry or scared.

As for the classes, Crippin was not doing as Umbridge had, and just making us read. She had taught us about Red Caps, Hinkypunks, and Kappas so far, and we were to do bogarts soon. It wasn't terrible, but with any other teacher it would have actually been fun.

The other teachers, McGonagall, Flitwick, Longbottom, Walczak, and Toft seemed more and more depressed every day. Professors McGonagall and Longbottom had watched us – Zowii, Sirius, Shirley, Rowen, Nessie, and I especially – the first few weeks, expecting us to do _something _to resist, but we all played our parts well.

That time is over.

It was common knowledge even before school started that Crippin and Taubert would be in charge of discipline, but no one – under my command, at least – had done anything to warrant even the "Umbridge Quill" as it was called.

Today, however, would be different.

"Don't do it." Pleaded Anuja that morning.

"I have to," I said, "We need to know what will warrant what kind of punishment; what we can get away with and what we can't."

Anuja looked close to tears, which I didn't really understand. We weren't extremely close, though she was like a sister to me.

I frowned slightly, going over to sit on the couch beside her. The common room was void of D.A members besides the two of us, and she said, "But what if they torture you?"

I laughed, I couldn't help it. Her black eyes glittered in anger under the dark-blond pony tails, and I replied, "You won't even be their, Anuja, why does it bother you so much?"

She shrugged, avoiding my eyes, so I continued, "The way I see it, either they'll assign me lines with the Umbridge Quill, or they Cruciate me." She shuttered at this, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Her face was very mature-looking, but both she and Zaire were built very thin and small for thirteen-year-olds.

"It's just…" she paused, as if not wanting to admit to something horrible, then said, "Our dad was Zacharias Smith." Her shoulders hung as if she had confessed to being the daughter of Riddle himself.

I stared at her for a second, waiting…when she didn't continue, I said, "What's so bad about that?"

She moaned, putting her head in her hands. "He was part of the original D.A, but when it came time for the Battle…he left."

I knew that, of course, because being a (adopted) daughter of a member of the Order of the Phoenix meant that the original D.A were automatically around all the time, and I had met Zacharias. He and his wife Megan had had four kids right after the War, but were told they couldn't have any more after the last. Miracle of miracles, Megan got pregnant with Zaire and Anuja at around age fifty.

I knew that Zach felt horrible for deserting the D.A at the Battle, and he had raised his kids to be very different, 'braver' he would say, so that even though they had both been in Hufflepuff, and raised two each of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Zaire and Anuja ended up in Gryffindor.

I frowned at Anuja, "But what does –"

Then Zaire stepped into the common room.

"It's time."

I knew perfectly well that I was over twenty minutes late to our double Defense lesson, I had planned it that way of course, taking inspiration from what Parvati had done over thirty years before in the same room.

"…so you see, children," Crippin was addressing my fellow fifth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs as if they were first years, "the patronus charm is far too advanced for most fully-grown wizards, let alone fifth years." She was speaking directly to Jaimie now, and I could see they'd gone according to plan. The looks of defiance that had been so carefully hidden for a month was starting to show on the nine faces of my fellow D.A members that were scattered through the room. I took advantage of Crippin's distraction to slip into my seat next to Zowii.

I raised my hand.

Several of the non D.A members started in surprise when they realized I had appeared suddenly in the class, and Crippin turned around, and expression of mild shock and indignation on her face as she said, "Oh, miss Tonks," her brown eyes glimmering under the pencil eyebrows and short blond hair that had already started to turn white. "Would you mind telling me where you were for the first part of the class?"

"Yes, I would mind actually," I said. Several people gasped, but the look of vindictive satisfaction on Crippin's face only intensified.

"Is that so?" she said conversationally.

"Yes. But I did have a question." I kept my tone and my face carefully blank, simply curious, "You said the patronus charm was too advanced for us, is that right?" without waiting for an answer I continued, "Because most of this class can perform it, and so can many of the younger students."

Her face kept that same grin as she replied, "I doubt that, miss Tonks, but that is insignificant, because we must discuss your lateness."

I ignored the last part of her reply, pulling out my wand and saying, "Expecto Patronum!"

A silvery-white Alpaca burst forward running playfully about the room and allowing several student to stroke its shimmering head. I simply watched Crippin with a grin on my face.

"Evanesco!" she cried, and my alpaca disappeared. I was expecting this, however, and when the animal vanished, a slightly charred piece of parchment floated down out of the air. Crippin caught it, and her round face turned red as she read it.

_Ha ha ha._

She glared at me, and I smiled back. Then she did something I didn't expect at all.

"Jordan!" she called. Emmett jumped in the back row, his eyebrows raised in confusion as he said, "Yes, Professor Crippin?" in the politest voice he could manage.

"Are you able to perform the patronus charm?" she asked, tight-lipped but a ghost of a smile appearing back on her face.

He hesitated before answering, "Yes."

"Please demonstrate."

He looked just as confused as I felt, but he had no choice. "Expecto patronum!" he cried, and a silver flying squirrel appearing, soaring about the room.

"Thank you. Remain standing, if you please. Shirley Black?" she called. Shirley stood up warily, and I felt myself start to panic.

_She can't know…not possible…_

"A patronus, please."

Shirley simply said, "Expecto patronum!" and a raven joined the squirrel.

"Mr. Black?"

_She knows. _

Sirius stood and cast his patronus without being asked. A catfish joined the bird and squirrel.

"Miss Antioch?"

Alice's rabbit joined the other three.

"Miss Jhonsyon-Whytte?"

A swan rose up.

"And Miss Tuesday?"

Zowii stood up, voice firm as she called, "Expecto patronum!" and an alpaca rose to join the other five.

I wanted to slam my head on the desk. This wasn't going at all how I'd planned.

Crippin turned back to me, her pudgy face full of triumph, and said, "Confess, miss Tonks. You have tried to re-band the old rebellion group, Dumbledore's Army, and these –" she gestured to Zowii, Sirius, Shirley, Jaimie, Alice, and Emmett "Are yours…your officers, or recruits."

I couldn't even find a word bad enough for this situation. I managed to keep my face blank as I said, "Dumbledore's Army? But students only formed that when they could no longer trust those in authority. Can't we trust you, Professor Crippin?" the half of the class that was not in the D.A looked like they had never been so shocked in their lives.

Crippin gestured to the other to sit down, walking slowly over to stand in front of me.

"We know that over thirty children from various houses have been disappearing regularly," she said, "and all of them have suddenly started to do exceptionally well in my class. We know that you are breaking the re-instated rule that states that children are not allowed to meet regularly in groups of more than three."

I frowned innocently, "Have these so called 'meetings' been happening on a specific night? Or a specific time?" I asked curiously, ignoring the fact that this was not going at all how I had planned.

"Well…no," confessed Crippin, "But-"

"I'm no Ravenclaw," I interrupted, "But I believe that the definition of 'meeting' is 'the act of coming together regularly'. So if these 'meetings' haven't been happening regularly, then they can hardly be called meetings. Though I'm still not sure what you're talking about."

She glared at me darkly. "Be that as it may," she said, "we know that children disappear from their houses frequently, and as there safety is in danger," she smiled viciously now, "I suppose I have no choice but to interrogate you." This was what I had been waiting for, and though there were gasps throughout the room, I met her eyes.

Then the bell rang. No one moved.

Crippin smiled sweetly, "All of you may go, except-" she pointed to the D.A members "You. We need to have a little talk, I believe."

The other students got up quickly and nearly ran from the room.

"Now," said Crippin, pacing in front of us like an old, ugly lioness, "One of you had better confess what you are doing, or I'll be forced to take extreme measures." They all glared defiantly at her. "Fine." She turned to me, wand raised. "Of course, since we have no proof, I can not properly interrogate you…but I can, however, for punishment for such disrespect."

I prepared myself, knowing this wouldn't be pleasant. I could only hope Zowii would let me permanently injure myself on the hard wooden desk.

Then she said it.

Pain like a thousand hot knives hit me, and I tried to keep my mouth closed, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. Dimly, I recognized a separate pain on my left palm, a burning, searing thing that was quiet unlike the knives of the rest of the curse.

Once the curse was lifted, the pain faded immediately…or at least the pain of the curse. My whole body ached from where I must have hit the desks, and my palm still burned.

The others were standing over me, and I saw tears on Zowii's and Shirley's faces.

I grinned at them half-heartedly, sitting up carefully. Crippin had left, and the candles in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom had been blown out, leaving just the dim sunshine from the cloudy October sky to keep it from being completely dark.

"So…seems like the plan worked, doesn't it?" I said sheepishly. They were all glaring at me.

"Why don't you look at your hand, then tell us what worked?" said Zowii.

Confused, I raised my still-burning hand and gasped.

Tattooed into my palm was two black letters: D.A, with Dumbledore's Army circling the initials in red. Right over D.A, in a raised brand just darker than my skin was 2010*(2023). The letters were bleeding freshly.

"What….how-?" I stuttered, running my fingers over the raised skin.

"Exactly." Said Sirius. "How."

I stared at the letters and numbers. "We need to talk to Charleigh and Etienne."

"I've heard of this kind of thing before, but I don't think it's ever actually _happened," _Charleigh was saying.

"Why hasn't it happened before, if the same situation has happened before?" demanded Etienne.

"Maybe this is different…"

"But it's not!"

"Then maybe _we're _different." There was silence at this, and the Ravenclaws all stared into space, contemplating. The rest of us - the Gryffindors - were watching them, confused.

"So let me get this straight," said Zowii, "You think that this is a mark of loyalty to the D.A, and we'll all get it if we get tortured…or prove we're dedicated. Is that right?"

Charleigh blinked, coming back down to the world. "Well yeah, pretty much."

"But then why didn't it happen last time?" I asked, "Plenty of people got tortured then…sometimes even worse."

"That's what we can't figure out." Rowen said, obviously frustrated.

Then the clock struck ten, and the twelve of us jumped. It was two hours past curfew.

After having the Room open up inside the Ravenclaw common room, the rest of us went into ours.

Zowii, Shirley, Sabs, and I went up to our room, each of us silent.

I lay down, sure I would never sleep with all these mysteries floating around in my head, but my eyes closed immediately

I was on a train. A muggle train.

I sat up, looking around. There didn't seem to be anyone there, and the train was bright white, completely contradictory to the stories I had heard about muggle subways.

I remembered going to sleep, so I reasoned that I must be dreaming.

I got up, going to look out one of the windows. Nothing was there.

"I've always found that the more impacting dreams are better in white." Said a voice behind me.

I jumped about three feet in the air, whirling to find a very familiar looking man with long silver hair and a long beard sitting in one of the seats. He was holding a book, and he wore dark blue robes spangled with stars, and half-moon spectacles.

Even though I knew I was dreaming, I gasped when I recognized him.

"_Dumbledore?" _

He nodded, smiling, as he put down the book. I barely registered the cover – a young boy with black hair flying through and archway under gold writing – because I was staring at him.

Of course, I had his chocolate frog, and there was a painting of him at our house that I talked to a lot, but this was the _real _Dumbledore, if only a dream version.

"W-why are you here?" I asked, sitting down shakily opposite him

"I suppose you mean to ask me why I'm in your dream, rather than why I am on this…particularly clean train."

I nodded mutely.

"I thought, perhaps, you could use some more information." Dumbledore said, straightening his glasses on his crooked nose.

"Answers?" my eyebrows raised even higher. This didn't sound like the Dumbledore I had heard about.

He smiled at me. "Every story is different…though you'll understand that I still cannot tell you everything. It's about–"

"The journey, I know," I interrupted.

He smiled wider, then took a pouch out of his robe.

"Lemon drop?" he offered. I took one.

"Is this about Kiernan?" I asked.

"Yes, partially," Dumbledore said. Then he nodded towards a shirt I hadn't even realized I was wearing. "I find it very flattering that this is the third time students at Hogwarts have resisted a dictator in my name."

The shirt had an army-style picture of Dumbledore himself, pointing, with "I WANT YOU FOR DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY!" written on the front. I had never seen it before, but I certainly liked it.

"You'll need more of those," Dumbledore continued conversationally. "I always found that I liked to display my allegiances out in the open, and I'm sure your fellow members will feel the same way."

He had officially confused me completely. "But…but then Kiernan will know for sure what we're doing!"

He winked. "Exactly. He does not think a 'teenager's gang' will be anything but a disturbance, and he love to cause chaos. That is the nature of his entire plan."

"Chaos?"

"Yes. He wants to overthrow all government, let the world survive in anarchy for a while, then swoop in and save the day. After that-" he paused suspensefully. Then, "-He will move on to his greater plan, which is more evil and terrible than we could possibly imagine."

I blinked slowly. "So…what you're saying is Kiernan wants to cause chaos, so he can save the day, so he can do something terrible."

Dumbledore nodded, shifting around in his bag for more sweets.

"What should I do?" I asked immediately.

He looked up, blue eyes twinkling merrily, and said, "You are already doing wonderfully. Just two more things, and one you will find very difficult." I didn't like the sound of that, but I nodded, glad that he though I was doing well.

"First:" he held up a crooked finger, "You really do need more of those shirts. Bags, jackets, whatever you can think of. It will put Jolon in a better mood, for one thing, and it will make all of his supporters very angry, not to mention promote unity. Second-" he held up another finger, "You and four of your other soldiers will need to leave."

I had been nodding along, agreeing with what he said about unity and angering the Masks, but at this point, my mouth fell open in shock. I couldn't move at all. _Dumbledore wants me to leave Hogwarts? Or the D.A? _

"Wh-what?" I stuttered, "Why-?"

He held up his hand, saying, "There is a mystery that needs to be solved overseas, and it had everything, _everything,_" he stressed, his eyes no longer twinkling, but deadly serious, "To do with Jolon. It is imperative that you do this, with the people you have already selected subconsciously."

"But…he…overseas…subconcious…" I paused, trying to gather my thoughts. Letting out a deep breath, I said, "You want me to take four others with me to…America?" I made the word I question, and he nodded, "To America to solve a mystery about Kiernan."

Dumbledore nodded.

"But…I can't leave the D.A!" I exclaimed, "I just formed it, I'm their leader! What will the little ones think if five of us just leave them?"

Dumbledore was completely still, his hands folded in his lap, eyes staring back at me gravely.

"They will think that their leader left to do something of the utmost importance, even though she might not have wanted to."

He was right. He was right and I knew it. I just didn't want to.

Slowly, I nodded. "When?" I asked simply.

"During Christmas break, I think," Dumbledore answered. "But you'll need to tell them right away, and choose someone to take your place at Hogwarts. I'd also recommended warning them not to do anything drastic, and practicing more, as there will only be five of you once you leave. It will be dangerous." He added. I nodded and, sensing that it was time for me to go, I stood up. Dumbledore did as well.

"Trust your instincts," he said as I shook his hand, "and take care of that Zowii girl," he added. "She's very special."

I grinned. "I know she is."

And I jumped out of the train.


	6. 6: Meeting with the 'Adults'

**Hmm...five chapter, over thirty hits...still two reviews...**

**It's not really a picnick to update this, okay. If no one likes it, i won't share it, just let me know. I'm not one of those people who says "I want twenty reviews or i'm not updating!" because that's not fair to the one or two people who do update. **

**Anyway, i had alot of fun with this chapter because i got to bring in some of the old D.A, and we all know how much i love Michael and Terry 3 (a whole whole lot:) so i loved writing them, even though they died in DAYD. I decided that wasn't fair, so i made them live :) Other than that, i'm pretty much sticking to the DAYD verse, even Slaugh - as much as i've read of it, at least. That's a tough thing to read, i'll tell you that.**

**By the way, if you are a fan of Teddy Lupin, you may not like this...he's kind of a jerk in this chapter, no offense to him, but we don't know what he acts like anyway.**

* * *

"-Just won't wake up! We've been trying for hours!"

"Coma?"

"Doubt it. Her heart would be beating a lot slower."

"Wait…look!"

The voices confused me a lot, and I opened my eyes, starting to sit up.

Several people jumped on me at once.

"What were you doing?"

"We thought you were dead!"

"-Wouldn't wake up!"

"-Even tried-"

"Okay, OKAY!" I cried, sitting up finally. "I didn't mean to scare you, and I'm sorry, but I was on a train with Dumbledore!" I grinned slightly at their confused expressions, and picked up my galleon, silently thanking the Lord above that it was Saturday.

I didn't call the entire D.A, just specific members from each house.

Soon Zowii, Nessie, Rowen, Dessa, Sunny, Lexi, Wendy, Shirley, Sirius, Etienne, Jaimie, Zaire, and Anuja were with me in the Room of Requirement.

All of them were members from the very first meeting except for Dessa Ceil, who was a third year Gryffindor. She had long, wild brown-ish red hair, large green eyes, and a very small mouth and nose. She had a very wild look about her, but was very kind when you got to know her.

I was using Occlumency to block Zowii so she couldn't blurt out the insanity I was about to inform them of.

"What's this about Dumbledore on a train?" demanded Sirius.

I held up my hand to stop them from all talking at once.

"All right, here's the deal…" and I explained my entire dream, from the t-shirt to this "mission" Dumbledore wanted us to do.

No one spoke. They were all looking at me like I had gone mad, which I expected, of course. I believed Dumbledore, and I knew that Zowii and Nessie would go with me even if they _knew _I was crazy, but what about the others?

After what seemed like hours, Rowen broke the stillness. She stood up, her short, dark brown hair fluttering slightly as her electric blue eyes pierced everyone in the room. The definitions of her muscles stood out under the white shirt and blue-and-bronze tie, tough but still feminine, and I remembered just why I picked her to be the Ravenclaw Colonel.

"Well, I think it's true." She said, her strong voice carrying throughout the room. She turned to me, "What first, Commander?" she asked.

Her trust made me smile, and I cleared my throat. "Well, he said I needed to pick four others to go with me."

"And obviously you've already chosen." Said Sirius, smiling.

"Naturally." I smiled back, "Nessie, Zowii, Rowen, and Dessa, will you go with me?"

Several mouths opened in shock at my choice, and Dessa herself said, "Me, sir? But I'm…" her voice trailed away, but I shook my head firmly. "I know what I'm doing," I assured her, though it was only half-true. I didn't know why I picked her, just that it was right. Honestly, I didn't know much about the girl, but she was definitely important.

"What day are we leaving?" asked Zowii. I opened my mouth to answer, but Rowen interrupted.

"Wait, wait," she said, her hands held up in front of her. "Why me?" she asked, spinning around to face me. "You four are Gryffindor!"

"So?" Nessie demanded.

"_So _you're brave and loyal and all that stuff. I'm in Ravenclaw."

"What's wrong with Ravenclaw?" Etienne protested, sounding hurt.

"Rowen, I pick you because you're strong, you're a great healer, you're smart, and you're brave, even if you aren't in Gryffindor." Rowen blushed slightly at my words, but still looked doubtful. Then I confessed what I had never told anyone outside of Zowii, Nessie, and my mum. "The sorting hat wanted to put me in Ravenclaw."

Almost everyone gasped, and Rowen said incredulously, _"Really?"_

I nodded. She sat down, still looking stunned.

"Okay, I think the real question here is, who's in charge while we're gone, Ruari?" Zowii said, standing from a chair on the right.

"Also, we'll need a new Secret Keeper, since Nessie will be with us." I added, standing up and starting to pace the room, "We'll vote for the…new leader at tomorrow's meeting, so everyone will be there." My voice faltered slightly on the words 'new leader', but I pressed on, "But I'll need a volunteer for Secret Keeper. "

Every hand went up besides Zowii's, Nessie's, Rowen's, Dessa's, and mine. I waived them down, knowing – somehow – that even though I now knew Kiernan wouldn't be interested in stopping us, I still had to pick someone young.

"Lexi?" I asked. A grave expression on her face, she walked to the front, her short brown hair bobbing slightly.

I was stuck suddenly by the fact that they had failed us _again. _This was the forth time in as many generations – less, really – that children had to pick up the slack were the Ministry, the people who were supposed to protect us, had failed. They had allowed a dark wizard to rise twice, the second time lying and trying to cover up what they could see plainly. Five years after his death, while forcing survivors to catch the remnants of his followers, they had provided no help while the same group of barely-adults stopped another dark wizard from rising. Now, they had allowed a very evil and intelligent Master of Chaos to take over under their very noses, leaving kids even younger than before to take care of it. Lexi was strong, but she was still only eight years old, Nessie even younger than that, smart as she may be. The fact remained that we shouldn't _have _to do this.

Those thought reminded me of words from an American document, and as I preformed the Secret Exchange, I thought them to myself.

_But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,_

_pursuing invariably the same object, _

_invinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism. _

_It is their right, it is their duty, _

_to throw off such government, _

_and to provide new guards for their future security._

When I shared the words from the Declaration of Independence with Sabs, Zowii, and Shirley that night in our room, Sabs said, "That's pretty…what's it mean?"

I laughed tightly, replying, "It means that those who have the ability to take action have to responsibility to take action."

"Oh," said Shirley, nodding her head, "So, like, what everyone had been doing for the past thirty years but the Ministry."

"Exactly." Zowii said, "If and when we get out of this, we are going to have to have a serious talk with the people underground."

"Definitely." I agreed.

Suddenly, a loud BANG came from the window in between Shirley's and Sabs's beds.

Both of them hit the ground in a roll, coming up on the opposite sides of their beds with their wands out. Zowii swung down from the top of her four poster by the curtain, yelling, "Protego!" as she went and erecting a large shield in front of the window. I used the bed as a spring board, using it to jump up and grab a pipe that ran along the ceiling, hanging there to get a batter angle. All of this happened in less than five seconds.

The thing at the windows was an owl.

The four of us looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

"We probably overreacted," Shirley said sarcastically as Sabs opened the window and let the brown bird inside. I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes, glad to know that we all had such fast reflexes.

Pulling the letter from the owl, I gasped when it suddenly turned into a silvery-white bull dog. It spoke in the voice of Neville Longbottom.

"_We know what you're planning to do. Bring all your people to the Hogshead this Saturday to meet with us; McGonagall, Kingsley, myself, and the rest of the Order and the first D.A will be there. It will be safe, don't worry."_

The patronus disappeared.

"Clever, really," Shirley said, her voice rough, "Sending a patronus in a letter, I mean. Undetectable, and better for short distances."

"Is this supposed to be some type of ransom?" Sabs said hesitantly. "Maybe Kiernan disguised his voice and sent it."

"No," I said, "That was Uncle Neville's patronus. Plus, Aberforth owns the Hogshead; it's safe there."

"Then why would the Order and everyone want to meet with us?" demanded Zowii, "And how do they know what we're doing?"

I sighed, taking the owl to the window and letting him out.

"They're going to try to stop us."

The rest of the week passed tensely. I had informed the rest of the D.A about what we were going to do in the meeting the next day, and they were still behind me, though Sakys and Alice were both getting more skeptical by the second. They had voted, and it was nearly unanimous that Sirius should be the temporary leader, with Shirley and Etienne as his second and thirds.

Sabs, Shirley, Zowii and I had also told them about the letter, and our suspicions that they would try to talk us out of it.

Therefore, it was with great anxiety that the D.A walked through the freezing rain to the Hogshead in small groups. As Zowii, Nessie, Lexi, Rowen, Azraeh,, Ambrose and I passed the large granite memorial depicting everyone who had fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, I stopped, reading names.

So, _so _many names, the ones of the deceased flickering red. Colin Creevy. Fred Weasley. Ernie Macmillan. Romilda Vane. Dennis Creevy.

I forced myself to continue, telling myself that there wouldn't be as many names this time. There just couldn't…

Once everyone was in front of the Hogshead, we cautiously went inside.

"Oh, there you are!" cried a voice from behind the counter. It was Tinsleigh Lupin, the daughter of Victoire and Teddy Lupin. She was around nineteen, just graduated from Hogwarts and working on her Auror Training. She had inherited the Metamorphmagi gene from her father, and her hair was streaked all different colors, cut just below her ears.

"Come on, I'll take you up!" she said, leading the way up the rickety steps. There wasn't a goat in sight, which was odd, but we had no choice. I signaled the D.A behind my back, glad we had learned some sign language.

_Be alert._

Tinsleigh rounded a corner, and she was gone, apparently through the large, peeling double doors in front of us. Every instinct in my body screamed _Trap! _but I tried to ignore it, my wand clasped tightly in my sleeve.

No sooner had I pushed open the doors than a flash of green hit the wall right next to me. I ducked, whirling sideways as I heard the others behind me rolling, diving, and drawing wands, all pointed at the man who had fired the curse…

Neville.

None of the D.A let their guard down, though Neville was smiling, tucking his wand back into his belt.

Noticing this, he said, "No, it's okay, it's me." I glared at him, thinking he definitely wasn't the same person if he expected me to believe _that._

He sighed, raising his hands placidly, "Cecily." He said simply, and I lowered my wand immediately, the others following me. Everyone knew the name of the now grown-up 'princess' of Dumbledore's Army, Cecily Harriet Macmillan, but Neville had told us the story of the Battle of Hogwarts, and I knew it was the password he had given to Ernie when he was holding the doors.

Around the room, which I noticed was very large, though the Hogshead wasn't all that big, people were appearing.

George Weasley. Harry Potter. Professor McGonagall. Teddy Lupin. Victoire Lupin. Aberforth Dumbledore (Azraeh and Ambrose ran at him with a cry). Lee Jordan. Ginny Potter. Molly Weasley. Arthur Weasley. Joice Toft. Gaylord Walczak. Ron Weasley. Hermione Weasley. Hannah Longbottom. Seamus Finnegan. Fleur Weasley. Bill Weasley. Terry Boot. Michael Corner.

_Twenty in all, but we still outnumber them._I thought.

"What was that about?" I demanded.

"Just Longbottom wanting to prove a point," said Seamus. I could see the glowing blue of his tattoos from across the room, and resisted a shudder, knowing exactly how he felt about this.

"What is this all about?" demanded Zowii harshly. If they were going to try what we thought they were, we had to be unwavering. I could almost feel the crossed arms and glares from the others behind me.

"We just want to talk," said Teddy in a slightly patronizing voice. "Why don't you kids have a seat and-"

"Now you've done it!" moaned Neville, as the entire D.A glared at him, moving to lean against the walls or stand in the middle like the 'adults' did, ignoring the clump of chairs.

"You've cooked us good and proper, Lupin," agreed Seamus. "They won't listen to a single word we say now."

"For goodness sake, they're not even old enough to cast a patronus!" cried Teddy. "It's not like before-"

But I interrupted him, almost seething with anger, more on my friend's behalf than mine. After everything the past D.A's had done, after the _war, _no one had the right to talk to a signed soldier like that, no matter their age. Behind me I heard a scuffle as someone – presumably Emmett – charged towards Teddy and was restrained.

"For your information, every one of us can produce a patronus." I growled, pulling my wand back out and saying the incantation. The D.A echoed it behind me, and I didn't look to see if the ones who had been unable to produce on before had succeeded. Several patronesses floated up to whisper in Teddy's ear, and apparently it they spoke very colorfully, because the Metamorphmagi turned pink. "And we can make them talk as well." I added unnecessarily.

There were several tense seconds were the D.A glared at the adults, then Neville stepped into the middle.

"Listen, Ruari, Zowii, all of you," he said, hands raised up again. "We all know what your doing, but not all of us are against it." I smiled gratefully at him, knowing that no one could understand better than the second D.A.

Then Mrs. Weasley stepped forward. Her ginger hair was streaked with gray now, and she wore a very maternal look. "I don't deny that action is important and inevitable, but you're all simply _too young_."

The D.A cried out in outrage, but McGonagall stepped forward next. "You are all skilled, no denying that either, but your oldest are fifteen, your youngest are _five_." She stressed.

Then the others started. Mr. Weasley, Fleur, Bill, Uncle Ron and Harry, and Aunt Hermione.

Just as I was ready to take the D.A and leave, Hannah, Ginny, Seamus, Terry, and Michael stepped forward to join Neville.

"Stop." Said Michael simply, and the adults cut off mid-sentence.

Wordlessly, Seamus pulled off his robe, exposing the tattooed chest to the watching adults and D.A. Michael and Terry joined him, both opening dark blue robes. Ginny rolled up her sleeves, and Hannah lifted a pants leg, both of the women shoving simple scars, cuts that never fully healed.

"These," Seamus said, breaking the stunned silence of those who hadn't known about his 'graveyard', "Are for every _child _that gave their life in the final battle. Colin-" he pointed to the cross "-Was only fifteen. Dennis and Romilda were fourteen. Seems to me like disrespect to their memories, saying that these soldiers are too young."

Michael spoke then. "This-" he pointed to two scars on his right shoulder. I saw Terry pale visibly and wince as he watched. "-happened to me when I saved an eleven year old boy from bleeding out after being whipped almost to death."

Teddy, always sympathetic, snorted quietly.

In less than a second, Terry had grabbed him by the neck, shoving him against the wall, the Seamus, Ginny, Hannah, and Neville right beside him.

"How _dare _you," Terry snarled, "_You're_ the child here, you have no idea what pain is, what that did to him…" Terry's voice broke, and Michael moved quickly over to them, prying his friend's hand off the younger man's throat. He pulled him out of the room, Terry still shaking in anger.

Seamus chuckled at Teddy's stunned face. "Wouldn't say things like that around that one," he jammed his thumb back towards the door where the two former Ravenclaws had disappeared. "Love each other more'n any o' us can understand."

"I just don't understand how two little holes-" Teddy started angrily, but Neville cut him off.

"That was done to him by a professional torturer, Hans Belsen. Heard of him?" Teddy had turned very pale now, as had others in the audience who didn't know. "After an hour, Terry stood up and shot a killing curse at Michael, after he begged him to end it through their Legilimens connection." Teddy was as pale as Terry now, but his cheeks were flushed in embarrassment, setting off his turquoise hair nicely. "Get your facts straight, kid, cause it's not an easy thing to live through, come back after, or watch."

Teddy shrunk back now, avoiding everyone's eyes. Neville turned back to the adults. "You all know what I lived through," he said, pulling back his shirt collar and gesturing to his cheeks and palms, "And what we've all lived through, but that doesn't matter now-"

"Like hell it doesn't!" cried Seamus, "How can you say that? It doesn't matter who died, doesn't matter that we were all tortured every feckin' day, some of us a lot worse than others, and now it's happening again, and you say it doesn't _matter?_" his eyes were glowing slightly now as he yelled at Neville. One word came to my mind: _Slaugh, _and I quickly pushed the others behind me, against the wall.

"Calm down, Seamus, just cool it!" Neville cried, "I didn't mean it like that, and you know it! All I meant was, Kiernan isn't the same." Seamus' eyes stopped glowing, but he still glared at Neville as Neville turned to face the room at large. "Kiernan isn't like the death eaters. I don't know what he is, but he probably wouldn't fight back if Ruari carved 'Dumbledore's Army' into his forehead. He's sneaky, charming, and a bloody genius, not to mention a very skilled wizard to boot."

"But-" Mrs. Weasley started to protest again, but I was getting tired of this. I took a few steps forward to stand in front of the D.A protectively, facing the adults.

"Alright, that's enough." I said firmly, "We know – at least partially – what Kiernan is up to, and we are training to be able to fight him and the Masks for whatever comes. You can't stop us, so stop trying. Your generations had their chances, and some people took them-" I nodded to Neville and the others "But one day you'll learn to stop underestimating 'children' during war, and stop trying to protect us. We're the only hope you have right now."

Almost everyone looked resigned now; George and Lee hadn't protested at all, nor had Professor Toft or Walczak. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Michael and Terry had returned, but then Harry himself spoke.

"I made the mistake of underestimating the D.A twice after I was no longer in control of it," he stated.

"Or maybe_ because." _Ginny said under her breath. Harry grinned at her.

"Well, I won't make that mistake again. I'm with you guys." Harry crossed the room, going to stand – to my shock – behind me with the rest of the D.A.

Seamus, Neville, Hannah, Michael, Terry, and Ginny joined him immediately.

Ron looked around at Hermione, George, and Lee. They all crossed to join us.

I couldn't believe it. The most famous people in the wizarding world were standing behind _us, _the D.A, like we were leaders.

Tinsleigh joined us, followed by her grandparents and mother, then Walczak, and Toft.

Only Teddy, McGonagall, Aberforth, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were left on the other side.

Aberforth and McGonagall locked eyes, then McGonagall sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Ruari. Of course I support you all talking action, I just don't want to see another student die." She sniffed slightly, and Aberforth followed her to our side.

"I reckon things might be better for this round without my brother pulling the strings, him and his cryptic ways…" mumbled Aberforth, speaking for the first time. If only he knew…

Teddy flushed deeply, then walked carefully over to Terry and Michael.

"I'm sorry about what I said. I had no idea…" but Michael clapped him on the shoulder, smiling, and Terry nodded, grinning slightly as well. It was hard to stay mad at a guy with blue hair.

"Molly, dear, I'm sorry, but I think these kids know what they're doing." Mr. Weasley said, and Mrs. Weasley reluctantly nodded, joining him as he went to the now mixed group.

Then Hannah gasped, looking at her watch.

"It's almost six!"

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**(P.s, check out my other story, Hareigh Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)**


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